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Proposed IPA question

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FixitM
FixitM Posts: 172 Forumite
edited 22 March 2017 at 10:44PM in Bankruptcy & living with it
Hello. I wonder if anyone can help please? If the OR has changed the figures we gave them in the SOA (income and expenditure form they sent us), should they be telling us what amendments they have made? And should the OR be telling us what they have allowed for and what they haven't? He has stated that he told me husband over the phone (after he pulled over as he was driving when he phoned) how they came to the proposed IPA, so has not answered our email requesting the information.

We previously completed the income & expenditure questionnaire for the OR, and they calculated a proposed IPA of £44 per month. We queried their calculations as we calculated a monthly excess of £9.84. Here is what we said in the email: -

Thank you for your letter of 10th March and enclosed questionnaire, which I received on 15th March. We are currently awaiting revised Tax Credit payment figures, so will only be able to calculate our household income and complete the form once these have been received.

I would be most grateful if you could provide us with a breakdown of the figures you used to calculate the previous proposed IPA after we sent in the last form. We would like to understand where the discrepancy lies, as we calculated a monthly excess of £9.94, but you calculated that we could afford an IPA of £44 per month. Please could you confirm if any of the figures we provided were amended by yourselves, or whether those used in your calculations were the same. We are liaising with the Citizens Advice Bureau who have been helping us throughout this process, and they told us that we would be allowed provision for things like an emergency fund before an IPA was considered. Please could you confirm whether this is the case, and if so why you proposed an IPA previously?

This is there reply: -

Thank you for your email which has been forwarded to me to action as the examiner who interviewed you originally and was responsible for calculating your last income payment agreement.

I recall speaking with you on the phone and explaining how the figure of £44 was calculated. You then told me that you were about to commence a new job as of Wednesday 25 January 2017. In light of that another form was sent to you. In addition to this form being returned, I would also like you to send in verification of your new employment from your new employer setting out what your monthly net income will be so that I can review your income and expenses. The previous calculation would have included a standard emergency allowance however if your expense figures were deemed to be too high, then they would have been adjusted accordingly as per the guidance provided by the government.

Please send in your completed form.

It appears they have adjusted our figures, yet they aren't prepared to tell us what they have adjusted. Surely if we are spending too much on food, tv broadband, phone package etc in their view and they don't allow it, how can we know if it's too high if they're not telling us? We have to complete a new form for the OR as my husband's employment has changed, but are at a loss because it seems they can just change our figures around without telling us. We are certain we can't afford an IPA of £44 at the moment, as our earnings are pretty low and we hadn't even included figures for emergency fund or holiday fund, etc, as we don't have enough income for those at the moment. Does anyone have any experience of this please who cold help?

Thanks in advance.
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Comments

  • FixitM
    FixitM Posts: 172 Forumite
    Can anyone help at all please? Would it be reasonable to email back asking for a written explanation of what he told my husband on the phone? I'm conscious that time is of the essence as we need to cooperate with the OR.

    Thank you.
  • Yes, it would be reasonable.

    Remember the IPA is an agreement, if you are unhappy with it you don't have to sign it. I would write to them and explain that what you have calculated differs to what they have calculated and you are not willing to sign anything until you have a full breakdown of their proposed allowances.

    If they can recall a conversation to say how it was calculated, surely it shouldn't take them long to re-calculate that information. Sounds to me like they're just trying to fob you off.
  • debt_doctor
    debt_doctor Posts: 4,595 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Hi,


    A short email along the lines of........I cannot consider your IPA proposal until you provide me with a full breakdown as to how you arrived at your opinion of my reasonable domestic needs.


    DD
    Debt Doctor, Debt caseworker, Citizens' Advice Bureau .
    Impartial debt advice services: Citizens Advice Bureau Find your local CAB *** National Debtline - Tel: 0808 808 4000*** BSC No. 100 ***
  • FixitM
    FixitM Posts: 172 Forumite
    Thank you both. We've just composed an email and sent it off. Will let you know if we have any joy with the requested information. I also asked for details of any they deemed too high, as obviously these would need to be addressed, otherwise they will believe there are excess funds where there are none.

    Thanks again.
  • FixitM
    FixitM Posts: 172 Forumite
    Hello. Well, we've had a reply with a breakdown. The £44 has been shaved off the gas & electricity, so what we use we're not allowed that much (despite being on most expensive tariff as it's a pre-payment meter). How on earth are we meant to reduce that by £44, or should we challenge it and say we need the allowance upped? Is there a set allowance per person in a property, I wonder? Also, I was under the impression that you were allowed £20 extra expenditure per month before proposed IPA, but he hasn't allowed for this. Does anyone know if this is correct please?
  • peterkay369
    peterkay369 Posts: 164 Forumite
    Have you posted a full IPA on here? It may be worth doing one to see whether the £44 can be used on other essential items. If your husband has started a new job for example, he may need to travel further for work which means more will be spent on fuel...
  • peterkay369
    peterkay369 Posts: 164 Forumite
    Also, how long is left on the bankruptcy until discharge?
  • luvchocolate
    luvchocolate Posts: 3,386 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Home Insurance Hacker!
    I have replied on your other thread, It is a little confusing running 2 threads on the same subject tho.
  • FixitM
    FixitM Posts: 172 Forumite
    I haven't posted a full IPA on here yet, as need to go through it with my husband when he's not working. We will need to submit a new one, so will post it then. The OR has given us a breakdown of what we claimed and what is allowed. We hadn't claimed for any emergency fund, so will make sure we add that in. He would be discharged in September (I was discharged in February).

    What worries me is that he has taken the £44 for the IPA from what he allowed us for gas and electricity. Now we're careful with what we use, but with 5 of us and on a gas prepayment meter which is absolutely extortionate, we only use it for washing ourselves, our clothes, cooking, lighting & heating (& we don't have loads of devices, so don't really use it for that). He also hasn't included the amount we claimed for mobile phones at all, not sure why this is? I think we need to query it perhaps?

    luvchocolate, The other thread was started for a different question, and I responded to update Kerry who has been helping me.

    Thank you for your replies.
  • alltaken
    alltaken Posts: 452 Forumite
    3 threads with the same gas and electricity question?
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