Hi Everyone,
I write this review as I was in a situation of uncertainty some 6 years ago like most of who visit here for advice, I have been as honest and truthful in what I write and really recommend you read below, my IVA is a brilliant alternative to owed debt and takes stress, worry away in most cases. Please read on...
I know sometimes life can change our horizon especially when it goes in a direction where we lose ourselves a little with emphasis on debt and managing our debts. I was there some years ago and finally, I have received a text that my IVA company after 6 years has been successfully closed. You will receive your documents shortly. Please cancel any standing order payments. That puts a smile on my face to know, I just wanted to add in the very first instance of my journey I thought I would lose everything I owned I was in Debt for around £19,000, I was going through a bad part in life and had to think of a solution, this was the first time in my life I had ever been in this situation and it did involve divorce. That said the debt was in my name and I was responsible, options were limited and letters started to come from the credit card companies, my first advice is this stay calm, contact your creditors and explain your honest situation, if you have a mortgage let then know also of your difficulties, cover all your payout people but your loans or credit cards are one of your priorities if you own a property and it's yours on the deeds and ownership papers and your debt is in your name it's your debt and your responsibility. It's scary at first but it gets better, firstly find a debt conciliation company and explain and put all the cards on the table, calculate how much you owe, they will advise you to explain to the creditors you are speaking to them, once they have all the details normally they will put you in contact with a company who if you are successful will take you on with a 5 or 6-year AVI, If you do have a property you will do 5 years and remortgage it depends if you don't have a mortgage it ends differently and sooner if after the 5 years you cannot remortgage you have to continue with your regular payments to the IVA FOR 1 more additional year up to 6 years, remember if you miss any payments to the IVA it can go on for longer until you have paid the equivalent to the 5 years or 6-year duration, always check first before cancelling or interrupting payment to your IVA Contract.
So how does it work you will be accessed on your income and disposable income, you will have your own IVA supervisor and advisors at the end of a phone, they are not debt collectors and they are more subtle with you, at times I realised I could get stressed and worried and they always advised and was there for me so don't worry too much. So, for instance, the way it works, say you earn £300 a week and after all your expenditure to live reasonably you are left with £80 that would be your disposable or usable spare money, so this is what is used to contribute to the IVA payment or Debtors asking for the money you owe, the good thing is the interest on the debt is frozen and the IVA can reduce your debt owed by 80 per cent, make sure all your expenditure is covered before they work out the money you have to pay and what is affordable, in most cases they will help you and check this with you anyway, I can assure you when you enter into an IVA they understand that you need to still live reasonably. So once that is worked out you will then be entering into a contract with the IVA company if you have a mortgaged property you get to keep that at this stage but after the contract, AVI comes up to 5 years you will need to try to remortgage your property, this is maybe only successful if you can afford it it will fail if you cannot or puts you in a worse situation, mine failed and I have heard of many others too, so the IVA company will then ask you to continue your regular payments for an additional 12 months, it will at around the 5 year period asked if you have anyone who may be able to borrow you money to pay a lump sum of money to the creditors to settle you're owed or negotiate a settlement, but obviously again this is not always possible, so the last resort is a 12-month extension for 6 years, remember if you do not have a property as long as you keep up regular contracted payments your debt will be cleared in 5 years as you have no assets. Just as mention they don't take anything away from you such as a car in an IVA as a car is a valuable asset for work and personal life, if you increase in a wage rise, win the lottery, have a windfall, not sure if this still applies but they check PPI payouts and any extra additional expenditure it all has to be declared, every year you will be accessed your wage slips will need to be sent and bank statements to verify your incomings and outgoings every for up to 6 months, I advise to be honest and budget your life as at the end it will be worth it, So after 5 or 6 years you could be where I am right now, you may receive a text in the future or a letter, it is important after 3 months you have not received your documents to chase them the important part is the completion certificate that's your proof you have completed the IVA, you will need this and its complete detail to send to the IVA.gov and credit score agencies to update their records.
Finally please don't declare bankrupt its the very last resort, and IVA seems a long process but keep busy, be sensible and you like me can get through it and come out the other end with that weight lifted, I hope this is a good review for the people out there and I wish everyone a successful completion and a happy debt-free future.
A good site for a free credit score check is CLEARSCORE,COM its totally free.
