Hi all,
Apologies for the long post ahead, just seeing if anyone is/has been in the same boat.
I’ve browsed these forums for years and always made me realise I wasn’t alone with debt and taking out an IVA. Lately, however, it’s really playing on my mind as I’ve looked over past documents/emails and remembered phone calls and it feels as though I’ll be in it even longer than anticipated or even potentially it failing. Here’s my background:
Debt: £40,000.00
Took out IVA in February 2019 with Vanguard with Creditors Meeting changing the term from 60 months to 72 months paying £172 per month (I knew payments would increase throughout the years).
Annual review with Vanguard stayed the same for another 12 months and changed jobs due to losing my job due to COVID.
IP stayed the same but Ebenegate took over the administration of my IVA in August 2020.
Annual review for 2021 and my payments increased by £41 p/m.
Sent in wage slips for going over my monthly threshold with overtime for 3 months but no reply.
Annual review for 2022 held and an additional £37 p/m added (now £250 p/m). Also they said I owed £173 to which they gave me several options: lump sum, 6-month catch-up or extension to IVA (took the 6 month catch-up of an additional £28 p/m). Kept paying this amount as there was several months where I done overtime.
Spoke to them about COL increases and rent increase but nothing back, always someone will be in touch.
Car HP come to an end and balloon payment needed. Emailed Ebenegate about it and said as monthly payments don’t exceed £250 (was paying £261) then that would be fine. This was originally noted on IVA at the start that I would want the balloon payment to be financed at the end of the current term. (Still nothing on COL).
Declined loan for balloon payment but parents took out loan and payment is only £226.
Sent in documents requested for 2023’s review in December - still not heard anything back and it’s been 4 months.
Looking back at my Annual Report I received just after the 3 year mark in March 2022 (the last one I received), my IVA duration has been extended by 6 months according to the report (78 now instead of 72).
Apparently my IP has changed too (from Peter Jackson to Tim Pope), but never received anything (whether you should or shouldn’t, I don’t know) from anyone.
I feel like I’m banging my head on a brick wall speaking with Ebenegate. I’m fulfilling my part of the contract when sending in wage slips with additional income on but they’ve not responded to COL or my rent increase. I normally have a response in January about what’s happening with the Annual Review and what payments are due going forward.
I never worried when I was with Vanguard at the start of my IVA and to be honest, it’s not the payments that are getting to me, it’s the fact that Ebenegate are supposed to be administering my IVA but never help.
I don’t want my IVA to fail after coming so far and it’s not the payments that are bugging me, it’s the added duration for no apparent reason.
Do I just continue making my payments of £278 per month and await a response and not chase them? I went back through 2022 and I went over my threshold several months again equalling £300 in total. My current pay is £100 per month more than my threshold, but that’s not taking into account the COL through 2022/23 & £125 p/m rent increase.
It feels as though I’m being set-up to fail all of a sudden. I’ve never had a notice of breach, but I feel as though one could be coming due to Ebenegates incompetence or am I just worrying too much? I can afford the payments still and don’t want to go chasing Ebenegate after I’ve done everything they’ve asked, but in the same breath I don’t want to seem as though I don’t care about the IVA and for them to potentially try and make it more difficult than it already is.
Original Duration: 72 months
Apparent Current Duration: 78 months
Payments Made: 50 (£10,695.06)
Payments Missed: 0
Payment Break: 0
Thanks for reading.