IVA Help

Tillycat987

I’ve had an IVA with Ebene Gate, the last payment of just over £89 per month was in February after 4 years.

A couple of weeks ago I was emailed them saying I had to try to remortgage our property to pay off the debt. Is this right? They sent me copies of the agreement but quite frankly it’s all gobbledygook to me but when I first took it out there was no verbal mention of this.

Our mortgage is paid in full, my husband who is not named on the IVA withdrew all his personal pension to pay this off when he was told he could no longer work due to ill health.

I’m worried sick that we will be made to sell up and have nowhere to go, I wish I’d just declared bankruptcy.

Can anyone offer any advice at all?

Thank you for reading

Grumpelstiltskin

You need to post on here.

IVA & DRO — MoneySavingExpert Forum

I have asked for your post to be moved.

MSE_ForumTeam5

Thread moved as suggested

sourcrates

Yes, an IVA typically lasts 60 months, not 48, and up until recently a re-mortgage in years 4/5 was standard in most IVA agreements.

If you can`t re-mortgage for any reason, you will be resigned to another year of repayments as an alternative to a re-mortgage.

You need to contact your IP and inform them of your circumstances, as the letter they sent will be a generic standard copy they send to everyone.

No need to panic, this is all perfectly normal, your home is not at risk, in fact your IVA actually provides specific protection from any and all legal action by your creditors.

Its natural to panic when faced with the unknown, but as a property owner, bankruptcy would be the last thing you would want, and would not be recommended.

ManyWays

How old are you?

Because there are two protections for you in an IVA on the secured loan/mortgage you may be required to take out to release equity.
One is that the monthly cost of the secured loan or addition cost of the mortgage cannot be more that half your monthly iva payments, so £45 a month.
And the second is that it cannot carry on after the end of your mortgage (which no longer extsist) or your state pension age.

A solicitor may be able to come up with further arguments as to why you not have to do this , but those 2 protections are already in your IVA documentation, so it may be best to start with them as the simple case.

Tillycat987

I still have no idea what to do here. I’m 58, care for my husband who can no longer work due to disability and work part time at minimum wage. They have said I need to try and remortgage for 85% of LTV I have no idea what this even means. I feel suicidal with worry.

sourcrates

Again, there`s no need to worry here, how much debt did you enter into the IVA with originally?

Tillycat987

it was just under £20,000 credit card debt. We currently have no mortgage as my husband cashed in his pension to pay it off so that it was one less thing to worry about. He really doesn’t want me to remortgage the house and how can you remortgage something that isn’t mortgaged anyway.

ManyWays

I am not going to say do not worry. You need to be very clear about what you say to your IVA firm and any secured loan firm they want you to talk to.Sometimes firms try to bamboozle someone into agreeing to something they cannot afford and should not have to agree to.

Your IVA will probably have been under the 2021 IVA protocol terms.

Go back and say:

1) I understand that the additional cost of any secured loan or remortgage cannot be more than half the cost of my monthly payment into the IVA. Half of £89 a month is £44.50 a month

2) I understand that a remortgage or secured loan cannot go on after my statement pension age as there is no longer a mortgage. I am 58 and my state pension is in 66. So the most I could pay in before then would be less than £5,000.

3) I have been told that £5,000 is the minimum amount of equity that could be released. On this basis no equity release should be attempted.

4) In addition, my husband is unable to work for health reasons. And I work part time at a minimum wage job. It is hard for me at the moment to afford the current £89 IVA a month and this will get worse this winter with energy bills going up.

5) my husband will not agree to any new mortgage or secured loan.

Could you confirm that in view of all of this, no equity release is required and that my IVA will just complete.