Hi there I'm new to the forum but am relieved that there is somewhere to come and speak to others in the same situation as me and my fiancée.
We have been in an IVA since April this year so we have a long road ahead of us!
Yesterday we were told by the HMRC that they had underpaid our child tax credits from April 2011 to April 2012, therefore they have paid us what was owed during that period, roughly £1600.
I called my ip this morning and he said the likelihood is that we will have to pay it ALL into the IVA.
Whilst expected, I am upset about this. Even though the IVA has made a difference we still struggle every month and with Christmas looming we are wondering how we are going to buy our kids any presents.
Is what our ip correct or is there anyway we can keep a little of the money?
Hi! I don't know the answer im afraid but my thinking is that if you had been paid correctly this would have increased your disposable income for the iva so you never would have benefited from it in the way you would like to now. If your iva is unaffordable speak to your IP about your I&E and a possible reduction in monthly payments. x
I agree with BOL that your DI would have been higher if you'd been paid correctly.
I think you will have to pay this across. If you need some for an emergency then you might be able to keep some back but I'm afraid that Christmas won't be a reason.
You will have to make savings from your other allowances for those or do what my wife does which is online surveys - it funds Christmas for us.
If you look at the blog link and trawl down to one called,'It's getting brighter' and scroll down the posts you will find one with a list of survey links. It is worth doing.
we had an £800 tax credit refund due to underpayment for the last financial year. Our IP treated it as extra income so we kept the first 10% and split the rest 50/50. it may be worth asking them to reconsider, no harm in asking, although perhaps i was just lucky!
I was on maternity leave last year which is why they owed us money, i'm glad we got the keep some of it as we really struggled whilst i was on mat leave and we weren't in the IVA then and we didn't take on any more credit as we were already on a debt management plan so it can't be argued that we would have borrowed less.
I hope you do get to keep some of it, we only started our IVA in Feb this year so know how much a struggle it is but it is getting easier. I do feel like a weight has been lifted, i no longer have to worry about our debts which I have been doing for years.
The money constitues an asset in the IVA - in that it was technically owed to you prior to entering into the IVA and is therfore probably all payable unfortunately.
The issue of how you would fund Christmas and birthdays needed to have been taken into account when your original expenditure budget was agreed with your IP and creditors. Most people in IVAs do actually manage to work through this, by setting aside a little amount each month into savings. I am afraid that the fact that you have received this money is unlikely to sway your IP that some of the money ought to be retained for these reasons.
