Just caught up with this thread and must admit i can emphasise with ALL posters. The IVA is certainly not an easy way out and needs very serious contemplation before entering, however, one of the initial posts by "Back on Track" hits the nail right on the head...when you see your financial world falling apart, family breaking down and the possibility of losing your home, then some of us can certainly see ourselves in a very dark place and this is where the IVA (at least for me) was literally a life saver. I never want to go back to those days and will try to ensure that I never do.
Lesley I can fully agree with your last post..I seem to have over the last 41 months and continue to....wish the months and years away until I can complete my IVA. I do have a daily worry about losing my job, car problems, home emergencies etc but I'm sure those feelings are not exclusive to only those in IVA's. The last few years, even for those not in an IVA, have been very difficult for many of us I would expect, but for me the IVA certainly has also been a vehicle to not so much weather the current storm but provide the platform for me on completion (fingers crossed) to hopefully continue in life debt free and with an enormous amount of financial security that I lacked so much at the start of my IVA journey.
Well done EVERYONE....some of us have got there and some still on their way but we all deserve a pat on the back I think!
I came into this world with nothing and still have most of it left!
Annual Reviews seems like you have to report to your Probation Officer.
When you opt for an IVA even though you are on a course to Debt Freedom and the relief that it brings you are still going to encounter in those 5 years loads of anxiety and stress as i have layed out above.
There is more to it than repaying the Debt as there is the Mental Resolve you have to go through as well as you are really going through the Ringer!!!!
No. Its not depressing. I wrote why should you feel happy about doing something stupid in the first place. Its nothing to be proud of. Hence all the secretive ways you don't tell your friends family etc.
You lost 5 years of your life living under a cloud yes OK its same as a bank loan but you mess up you are in schtum. So why can you celebrate that unless you haven't learnt your lesson
The Iva is last chance saloon in a way You did not do it coz you wanted to. You did it coz you had no choice
The happy part is you get to keep your monthly payments when u finish ......But you would have been happy the whole last. 5 years if you hadn't been reckless with money if you see my point
I am out of mine but I lost a whole lot chunk of opportunity cities If. I had been careful with cash in the first place then. I would have had those chances. They are gone forever. So is that something to celebrate I think not
Reviews are stressful coz you think you may have slipped up did you do this or that. Are they going to want more money etc. Only a person in a. Iva knows that feeling.
Also you need to be super positive and mentally tough to get through. I was every step of the way nobody supported me . I had a idea of what. I would do when. I finished to go to a place to say to myself Yes. I made it I did that and again was I happy and proud. Nope just something I wanted to do to give myself closure. I don't give a toss about the Cc. I did it myself they can send it whenever I got my life back no matter I met the girl of my dreams last week. So when. I say you lose chances or opportunities while you are in the Iva no matter because everything happens for a reason. If I had gone and taken my chances. I would have met somebody else done another job. So my reward in the grand scheme of things is what. I have now. For every negative there is always a positive That should be your thinking in the Iva and in your daily life. Once you get that lifes a bowl of cornflakes
Melanie, I've no experience of probation officers but what I think Andrew means is that and my feeling is that you have to bare your financial soul to your IP and you are at their mercy, there is no financial freedom or privacy, you have little control over your finances and the review brings this in to sharp perspective and rightly so after all, we have messed up and need to put things right, much like I suppose someone on probation, they have limitations on their life, they have to answer to someone about their activities and don't have the entire freedoms, independence and privacy as others do!
Must admit that over the past 12 months I have become more open with my mates at work about my IVA status....even told my Boss late last year.....after all the entire Company is in a similar position (CVA).
I do all the overtime I can legally with my employment (probably the most in the Company) and did get a bit of stick for being a "money grabber" but instead of continuing to hide the fact.....I have told them the truth.......I need the money. They also know that I have to pay 50% of my overtime to my IVA Company and guess what......not one of them has been judgemental or stopped talking to me.....infact quite the opposite some have asked about the IVA and the process involved.
At my workplace non of us are on superstar wages (and no pay rise in 7 years) and whilst I have to report my earnings/outgoings to my IP.....my mates are on no more money than I am and some are on just as strict a budget whilst others are living hand to mouth on credit cards and loans......so at the moment I see a yearly report to my IP as nothing more than a self employed person would do when submitting annual accounts.
Maybe if I had an IP many years ago before I foolishly got myself in debt then I wouldn't be in this position now.....after all I thought I knew how to control my finances and obviously I didn't. Having an IP overlook your finances is a small price to pay I think for getting yourself on the correct track again, ridding ourselves of our debt and relearning the value of money......something I wish I'd done years and years ago instead of thinking I knew better.
I have read many many posts over the years from the good folk that post on these forums and the many that have succesfully freed themselves from a spiral of debt with IVA/BR and I cannot recall any that have reached the end and just want to go out and spend, spend spend......quite the opposite infact......they actually find themselves in a position to start enjoying "saving" money for themselves for once and think twice before making purchases.
Sorry about the long winded post but just trying to say...we all got ourselves in this mess or some of us may have been thrust into it by redundancies etc, but one things for certain....an IP (and annual reviews) is an integral part of the IVA process, something which none of us were forced to take out in the first place.
I came into this world with nothing and still have most of it left!
It was only meant in Jest Melanie, some posters on the forum have had issues with there IP s but I am glad to say that you are one of the Best.
Maybe it is my London sense of humour.
You are most definitely not a Probation Officer and I am glad I picked your team who all do an excellent job.
I know we have to do yearly Annual Reviews but for everybody in an IVA, it does play on your mind.
I can empathise with most of the comments on this thread but have to say that for all the hard things that you have to go through an iva is still a good way of getting your life straight. After all, we all got ourselves into this situation. And for me, not having a nervous breakdown every time the phone rings or the post comes through the door is still a blessing.
