I'm less than 18 months from finishing my IVA and have been thinking of things I can do now to start to rebuild my credit rating for when it's complete. I've kept a mobile phone contract throughout the IVA and not defaulted on it and now I've got a credit card. I applied expecting to be told I couldn't have one but got one with a £200 limit from Capital One with no problems at all. I intend to take it to its limit every month and pay it off in full.
From reading other posts on here it seems that I've got a different deal on my IVA as I set it up before they got massively popular so I've not been asked to do any reviews and I'm paying the same monthly amount now that I was 3.5 years ago (even though my wages have increased). Therefore I decided that a credit card was low risk as I know I won't struggle to make the payments and risk getting in more debt.
Can anyone tell me if there's any problems with what I'm doing or if indeed I'll have any problems from not having any reviews and still paying as if I was on a lower income?
Last edited by elmintrude on Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I dont think you should have a credit card at all in an IVA but I could be wrong. I am very surprised you got one at all as your credit history is shot to pieces when you take out an IVA or go bankrupt.
Your payments certainly should have increased unless you accounted for the extra income being swallowed up in rising costs on your income and expenditure form but you are saying you have never been in a review which I find very strange. Who is your IP company??
I'm very surprised that you were able to get a credit card! Is your IP aware of this, as most IVA's state you cannot have any credit without the express permission of your supervisor.
Other than that it looks as though you are doing everything right - your mobile phone contract will report to the credit reference agencies. Presumably you have a bank account as well, as these also report to the agencies.
Well done for doing so well with your IVA, and good luck with the rest of it x
i would think the ip would like to know were you are getting the funds from to pay this off monthly this isn`t allowed whilst you are in an iva and your credit rating will still be shot anyways for 6 years from the start date
I would think that the IP is likely to question the fact that if you can pay £200 per month to a credit card, you can pay extra to your IVA.
I'd like to know who the company is. I have never known anyone not to have annual reviews.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Thanks for the quick response. You really are an eager bunch on this forum!!!! It's good to see everyone in the same boat working together, I wish I'd have known about it back when I set my IVA up.
I'm a bit suspicious of my IP to be honest, it's Beesley & Co based in Manchester and I've read some dodgy things about them on this very forum. Like I said, I've not had a review and the only time they have contacted me was when they were paying my creditors some of the money back after 2.5 years and one of my personal creditors hadn't signed a form. I took the opportunity to ask them how the IVA was going and they said that everything was on track and there was no mention of review or questions about wage increases.
When I set my IVA up I treated it with same "don't care" attitude that got mew into debt in the first place. I set everything up correctly but have since lost every piece of paperwork I had on it so I've no idea what was on the proposal. Very silly of me and I've grown up a lot since then, I'm just glad I still had a tiny bit of sense and did something about it.
In regards to the paying off the credit card I'm just going to be buying normal purchases on it anyway so it's things that were declared on my IVA (bills, food and the like). It's not like I'll be buying £200 quids worth of mink coats and cavire every month!!
Last edited by elmintrude on Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Everyone to their own i supppose but i for one wouldn`t have a credit card thrown at me ever again and as for credit they can keep it .Its cash and if i can`t afford it its save up more cash till i get it.[8D]
Creditcrunched, that's not the point. Where as I've learnt my lesson and I won't be living in credit again, it's still important to have a good credit rating because at somepoint point I'm going to want a mortgage. Like I said, I'll be paying the card off in full each month, it's just a vehicle to build up my rating.
Creditcrunched has your income increaed on the P60s you send over when it's review time and if so has that affected your payments?
Also, apologies if my last post was a bit direct. It was one of those "sounds harsh when you read it back moments", it wasn't meant to be. I wasn't aware that my credit rating was shot for 6 years, I assumed that it was only for the 5 years of my IVA and that other new positive entries on my credit report could only be a good thing.
Last edited by elmintrude on Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Elmintrude - if you can find me a mink coat for £200, I'll go and buy one!!!![:D]
I think we are just concerned that you have a credit card when you shouldn't have one. I have always advised on here that once your six year bad credit is up, then is the time to start building up your credit record again, not before.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
no offence taken with the post yes they have asked for increases in 2 of the reviews but i asked to add some insurances on to the i+e form and they allowed this so in 3 years no increases
Oh my goodness. Get a pre paid credit card if you need one, for god's sake, what about financial rehabilitation ? i shall shut up otherwise i shall get thrown off the forum for what i could say.
