Coming to the end of our IVA

Parkbanc06

After 7 years we are due to finish our IVA in November!! We were just interested what people experienced near the end and what to expect. Feeling a little nervous. 

minimad125

Having had an IVA finish way back in 2006, my first thought was yippee, but then made the right decision on gathering all the information relating to the IVA i.e, the original companies whom I owed money to, the amounts before and after the IVA was  set up and the completion certificate you receive from either the debt management company or the court where the IVA was lodged.
I would suggest you keep all this information in a pack and not lose any of this for the next 6 years or even longer.

This is due to the fact that there will, at some point, be another debt collection company trying to claim more money from you. this happened to me in 2014 but as the debt was part of the IVA, they had no claim over it. 

It is a very nice feeling to receive the Completion certificate after what had been a stressful time, but in your case, the hard work begins to rebuilding your credit worthiness. I would suggest not applying for any credit until at least 6 months after the date of your completion certificate, maybe even 12 months. This is so that, the information from the courts/IVA management company can filter onto your credit file held by equifax etc.

My advice, and yes I did the same, is to carry on paying another 12 payments that were destined for your IVA into an easy access account and call it MY FREE IVA FUND. (think of it as doing hard labour on your wallet). This may feel a little odd at first but come next December, you will have a decent pot of money for either a wonderful Christmas or to go towards your first IVA FREE holiday. 

After the 12 months, apply for one of those rebuilding credit, credit cards and use this for your every day spending and pay off in full each month. this will boost your chances greatly for better credit cards/mortgages etc. 
 
It may seem like you want to go out and celebrate straight away but honestly, the extra 12 months didn't take that long in the grand scheme of things and looking at your savings account after the time period was a nice feeling (I didn't look at it until then because if I did, temptation would have reared its ugly head and would have withdrawn some of it out)

So, now being 2021, I am financially better off and able to enjoy life, although mortgage payments are still a little high but I am working on this
Good luck on whatever you do and I hope you take this advice as it worked out great for me.