Help IVA

loopylass81

Am totally fed up with the company that is dealing with my iva.. I have paid for over a year now and received a letter this morning telling me i am in arrears i have been trying to sort out my payments for the last six months but i seem to be taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back...

Can anyone help me with the following questions.

1. Do i have to stay with my existing iva company through the whole course of my iva?

2. What happens if I decided IVA is not the best solution for me?

Am so fed up with it at the moment as everytime i phone them I get a different answer..

tia

james32_uk

You're stuck with the IVa and that company until you either complete payments or have a full and final payment offer accepted by the majority of your creditors.

You could tell us your circumstances and we can try and answer your questions for you?

loopylass81

My ex husband left me with a lot of debt. I took the iva up in Aug 06 however because i have been training at work I was given a wage increase in Oct 06 I advised the company of this and was advised to leave it until my annual review. They also wanted to know if my childcare had decreased and i advised it had but my income had also decreased. They then in a different phone call turned round and said that i needed to advise them of my incomings and outgoings which I have four times but as my wages and childcare amounts decrease and increase it is difficult to calculate. Also my fiance moved in with us and now is unemployed as he looks after my son so I am supporting him as well which again one phone call they say they cant put him on my monthly food allowance and then another phone call they can. I keep getting mixed messages from them.

And also they keep asking for my statements which i am not happy in showing them what I am spending my money on as it is the only private thing i seem to have in this mess. So I was told to send it with the places blanked out and then again in a another phone call was told i couldnt do this...

Well done if you got the end of this..

james32_uk

As long as you show your I&E end up with a similar 'disposable income' as last year then it's odds on they will not increase your IVA payments.

To try and tie your IP down to what they agree I find it's best to get one name and always ask to speak to them about all corrispodence. I also do everything by email and then follow it up with a phone conversation so everyone knows it has been received and put on record. Get them to email you back too so you have something you can show to prove what they said.

Any reason why you can't just show them your statements? Have you been doing things they might not like?

loopylass81

No i havent been doing anything they may not like. I just dont let people knowing where my money has been spent ie. which shop i shop in for food or clothes etc...

Eager_Elephant

Hi loopylass81

I've just had a look back through all your threads and can't see that you have ever pasted a SOA - could you do one so we can see your situation.

EE

loopylass81

hi Eager elephant..

ok will do one later on this evening once little man is in bed

marclandsman

loopylass81 - I am an Insolvency Practitioner, hopefully not the one you're having problems with!

When you went into the IVA it was on the basis that the IP felt it was appropriate advice, we are regulated and monitored and most of us will not knowingly give the wrong advice (I would love to say none of us but it will open the floodgates and stories of 'rogue' IPs will hijack your thread!). If your circumstances have changed, please talk to your IP. YES YOUR IP (not a member of his or her staff!), they will probably need to check your file but at least you will know that the answer they give will not be overturned higher up the ladder. The idea of e-mail is good so that you have a written version, and they KNOW you have it.

In most IVAs there is a way to increase the payments (usually automatically at 50% of any increase in surplus after tax, or a fixed percentage of any increase) and either the authority for the IP to reduce the payments (sometimes by up to 15%, though the period may be extended), or to invite creditors to agree a change to the IVA. This may help you. It will either be shown as a 'Variation' clause in the proposal, come under the contributions section, or if it is a request by the creditors it will be in the Chairman's Report of the meeting. If you can't see it, ask if it's there.

If your circumstances change drastically, you should also ask the IP whether an IVA is still right for you. Please ask the question, then get them to explain why they give you their answer.

If you were one of 'my' debtors, I would be a bit wary of you supporting another adult, but if the costs of supporting him are roughly balanced by the saving in child care costs this is a good argument to use. Unfortunately since the IVA is to deal with your finances as they were, the IP has to take changes in circumstances into consideration carefully and use economics rather than emotions. Most of us do have hearts though (please see earlier comment about thread hijacking) and will aim to tread a line that is as fair as possible for you and the creditors (who may otherwise reject someone else's proposal in the future if they think that we are too soft and don't care about the creditors).

As for bank statements, all I usually look at is the balance (to make sure that the debtor isn't going overdrawn), the receipts (to make sure that their salary is coming into this account), account transfers (are they giving their spouse money they didn't say they would, or is there a savings account they have not told me about?) and direct debits etc to see if they are keeping up with the mortgage and haven't started pensions or anything like that. I might comment if I see very high payments to well known internet 'luxury' stores or a lot of foreign transactions as the IVA is on the basis that the debtor is offering the most they can to their creditors, but I see so many in a month that unless I happen to be on the phone to a debtor immediately after I am unlikely to remember anything apart from broad brushstrokes. Even if I do see luxuries (before IVA's I have seen £'00s spent on CDs/DVDs in one go), I would give a polite warning first time. Didn't you have to give your IP bank statements before the IVA was proposed? I always want to a couple of months for the reasons mentioned above.

The only time I can remember querying why they had used a particular shop was last year when Tesco was doing a petrol/diesel promotion and I asked one of my self employed truck drivers why he had used the money off voucher for the car not his truck! Next month when he told me that he had used the savings to have a night out I didn't query it at all. We know that everyone needs a break or treat every so often.

Hope this helps, it is the second time posting with my real name, but I am doing so so that you check on me and see that I really am an IP answering from an IP's perspective.

If this was an advert I would have tried to include my firm's name, phone number etc. If Martin or a moderator wants to stop me posting as 'me' I will assume that they will let me know. Or I will get massively flamed.

Marc

loopylass81

Hi Marclandsman

Thank you for the reply.. A lot of what you are saying makes sense. I have tried to talk to my IP unfortunately he is never available. The reason my partner is staying at home is now we have moved in together we lose all our child tax credit and if he went back to work I would have to pay at least £100 a week in Childcare. We decided he would stay off and therefore I would only be providing food for him so therefore making it cheaper. I think I did give my bank statements right at the beginning. I think my problem at the moment is I have lost faith in my iva company as all they have done is muck me about since i asked to have a variation.

I will post my SOA as soon as my little man lets me get to the computer for more than 5 mins lol.. I am going get everything sent off to the tonight and see what they say...

thanks again..