IVA and unable to afford it

kayleigh_b69

With going BR, your absolute worst case scenario is a 3-Year IPA. To save for the £750 BR fee, just stop IVA payments

Can you explain this sentence to me please - what is a 3 year IPA?

We don't have any assets - we rent our house and have a 53 plate car which gets my husband to and from work

I work in a finance department of an insurance company but not high up so not sure if it would impact my job

Thanks for all them links tho - they will be this evening reading once baby is in bed

RuthnJasper

Contact your IVA provider; you may be able to negotiate a payment break or reduced payments. This was something I was able to do when my circumstances changed; though it may not be appropriate for everyone.

Generally, it's not in the best interests of an IVA provider to allow the IVA to fail - but it's best to speak to them before you lose any more sleep over this.

Good luck; hope all turns out well. x

UpToMyNeckInIt

...Sorry for the jargon.

Got to say I'm no expert on going BR, as it was not an option for me, but:

IPA's.

If, after looking at your monthly income and expenditure, [and the official receiver deems that] you have over £20 of disposable income, you will be have to make monthly payments under an Income Payment Agreement (IPA). This is an amount which you will have to pay each month for three years from the date the IPA is made i.e. you will carry on making these payments after you are discharged.

...anyway it's all on the Debt Camel website.

Based on your information ie: £25K debt, your net annual income income around half that, I would guess that, after properly looking at reasonable expenditure, you will be deemed to have less than £20pcm spare. (Unless your Husband earns a blinkin' fortune). In which case you will not likely qualify for an IPA. If so, I believe your debt is written off, and you are formally discharged after 1 Year.

(I stand to be corrected by an expert of course).

I have to say, that by any measure, if your income is around say £12,000-15,000 p/a, an IVA repayment of £361 seems INCREDIBLY HIGH. You should not be struggling as you are. (To put it into perspective, in our household there are 2 adults and one child, with a c£35,000 p/a net income. After expenditure allowances, my IVA repayment is £277pcm - only I'm in the IVA, not my Wife).

Looks like you could have been mis-sold an IVA. You would not be the first, and will not be the last.

I think you also need to tell whoever you owe £1,300 to that they will either need to have their debt included in IVA or BR, or that they allow you to repay it once you have completed your chosen solution.

Enjoy that bedtime reading.

Anaheim

Hi Kayleigh

IVA's are not easy are they....:(

Payment holidays are only really allowed in emergencies - If you were granted a holiday there needs to be a genuine reason like your car needing major repairs if it fails the MOT, you wouldn't be granted a holiday for the car tax as you are supposed to have an 'allowance' for that.

If you were granted a break as you are struggling then you would be back to square one once payment resumes so you need to look at the longer term picture.

You must ask for a review as it sounds as if your allowances are set too low. Your IP can reduce monthly payments by up to 15% without calling a variation meeting if they agree that your payments are too high.

Most of us went into the iva without researching so don't beat yourself up about that, it was a lifeline at the time

Save your husband's petrol receipts to show how much fuel is costing. We had to fight to get a higher allowance for fuel and had to prove the cost, we couldn't claim for all fuel though as it was over and above the guidelines

You would need to stop paying to fail the iva - some proposals keep back a contingency fund for bankruptcy - check the wording in the proposal or the chairman's report, I forget which one its in

The family members debt should have been included in the IVA - was it declared?
Is it just you in the IVA or is it interlocking with your husband?

Did you have a look through the bedtime reading that Uptomyneckinit provided and do you feel any better than yesterday?

Have you had a thought about posting your allowances on here and where your money is being spent, there are posters that may be able to help or come up with some ideas

Its a long old slog but it can be done, I wish you well.

kayleigh_b69

Thanks alot Anaheim - i do feel better today after the reading - i have asked for a payment review and i will get my husband to keep all the petrol receipts never even thought of doing that. I think alot of it is we are struggling every month and i know the MOT is due which we dont think is going to pass.

The IVA is both me and my husband - i have emailed our case officer and have asked for a review - not had a response yet but i am feeling brighter today

you dont realise how helpful these boards are

I will post post what we spend and what the allowances are once i get a spare minute - im hoping people on here will be able to help me make this more suitable for me

kayleigh_b69

i was told we couldnt include the family debt as the family member should understand our situation - at the time i just needed to get something in place so took this as ok and we would struggle on

Anaheim

Hmm, told you couldn't include the debt was bad or even wrong advice, its still classed as an unsecured debt.

Does the family member know that you are in an IVA? Is it possible to agree with them that you will stop paying them until your IVA is finished. If they agree then there is no reason why you cannot then pay them in full later on?

If your IP is expecting you to keep up with the payments to the family member have you been given an allowance to do so? But then that could be seen as an unfair advantage to one creditor. I would certainly bring this up in any conversations with them, this extra payment is adding to your problems

I'm sure that someone who knows more than me would be able to comment on this.

Do you have anything that you can sell on ebay to get some extra money for the work trousers and shoes? We became big fans of charity shops during the course of our iva, and bagged some great bargains

UpToMyNeckInIt

I think the problem with family debts is proving that they exist. Let's be honest, they are typically informal arrangements with no paper trail. So no IP or creditor is going to accept it exists unless you can prove it.

Otherwise anyone could say 'I owe £30,000 to a family member'(a scenario posted on another form a while back). Nice little money spinner for the fraudster, or to force through an iva vote.

I owe money to my Dad. We agreed that I can defer paying until after the iva, repaying as and when in the interim. He would rather wait a few years and get all he is owed, rather than get 35p in the £.

It is my only debt I intend repaying in full.

Anaheim

UpToMyNeckInIt wrote: »

I think the problem with family debts is proving that they exist. Let's be honest, they are typically informal arrangements with no paper trail. So no IP or creditor is going to accept it exists unless you can prove it.

Otherwise anyone could say 'I owe £30,000 to a family member'(a scenario posted on another form a while back). Nice little money spinner for the fraudster, or to force through an iva vote.

I owe money to my Dad. We agreed that I can defer paying until after the iva, repaying as and when in the interim. He would rather wait a few years and get all he is owed, rather than get 35p in the £.

It is my only debt I intend repaying in full.

I hadnt even thought of that! I must be far too honest

debtfree2016

Hi Kayleigh, hope all sorts its self out. I started my IVA and and within months my mortgage went from INT to a Repayment meaning an increase in my outgoings of £400, I contacted my IP and they said I could call a variation meeting and if I did its more than likely they would agree to lower amount but over a longer period. I declined and my IP offered the 15% reduction meaning I had to still fined the £300. It was a difficult decision but I wanted to make sure I stuck to my guns and paid with the original time frame. For extra cash I would head to Boot sales and buy items for cheap sell them on Ebay or facebook and raise cash for small items or purchasing clothes via paypal. Its very tricky around the middle of the month and my wife and I try to put money in pots at the beginning of the month for different bills that will arise. We also do a big shop £60 - £80 and the beginning of the month and then buy items on a daily basis that are reduced and put them in the freezer. Cant wait for the day when I'm £1000 better off a month. You really do have to cut the cloth accordingly but your IP should have gone through all of your income and expenditure with a fine tooth comb.
Maybe none of the above really helps, but there are ways of living within your mean and also buying items a lot cheaper than you need to pay provided you look around.
6 months ago I had a bill for nearly £600 for a car problem, I need the car for work I asked for a payment break which would have been granted but you can only have this once. The next option we discussed (not offered) was to miss one payment and make up the difference in each month payment until the next review. This was accepted.... again tight but that's how it is. I prefer this than having statements and bills hitting the door mat.....


Once again best of luck and make sure you keep posting and communicating with your IP.