Hi Jhonnie,
I was in an IVA and paid 15 installments (started at £357) and my last one i paid was £419. I too was in a terrible mess and desperate when i started and i filled in the I&E with inaccurate amounts (as i was told this would ensure the IVA was accepted). It was this that ultimately made the IVA fail as i was borrowing from friends and family to get by each month. I spoke to my IP on the 12th July and tried to come to some kind of compromise but i was told that my actual disposible income of £240 per month could not even be presented to my creditors as a viable monthly amount, so i felt with 45 months of the IVA to go, and still in as much worry and stress as before i began, i had to take the descision to file for my own BR.
I was upfront with my IP and told her i would need to cancel my IVA and i wrote her a letter on the 12th July. I filled out the BR forms online, and phoned my local county court and made an appointment as near to payday as possible. I was given appointment of 25th July and used what would have been my July IVA payment to pay the £485 BR fee. I went to court on 25th July with 3 copies of the forms (very important as they charge i think about £7.50 for a set of copies) and my £485. My appointment was for 9am. I went through the forms with a lady and then was sent to see the Judge and i was with him for 2 mins and he declared me bankrupt at 9.37am. I then had a five minute phone call with the Official Receivers office in Hull. I walked out of court feeling a bit sad/relieved/strange etc but also feeling that things are going to get better.
About a week later i received my BR package through the post and told by letter that i wouldn't need a telephone interview as i had provided all the details in my online forms! I just had to send in 3 months payslips and 6 months bank statements and any loan/credit card statements (i didn't have them all).
I had worked out through my I&E and going through Skippy's excellent blog regarding what is normally allowed in BR that with my disposible income of £240 per month, i would be paying approx £125-£130 per month for the 3 years of BR. Well...My OR called me last week and said she had just a couple of things to clarify which was fine, but to my surprise when she mentioned my I&E, she told me i hadn't put down the £50 per month holiday allowance which is allowed in BR. She has worked out that i will be paying £100 per month in BR for the 3 years which as you can imagine was a great bonus.
Now, what i also want to add is as some members have also told me in my last post, there is a massive discrepancy between BR and IVA payments which dosen't really add up! When i spoke to my IP, i was more than happy to pay back as much as i could and would have been happy to pay back a realistic fee per month, but this was dismissed, and now because of this, instead of paying back my disposible income of £240 per month for the remainder of my IVA (45 months left), i am now going to be paying £100 per month for 36 months!! Go figure!
I can totally understand the members of this forum who are dismayed by the huge differences, but i would also like to add that i have tried so hard and know i have done my best to pay back what i can, but i have now done the best thing for myself, and can now start to live again knowing that i will never get in this mess again!
I feel for the people who are going through this but i would say to anyone that going BR is NOT easy and is not a nice feeling and i was very annoyed over the last week or so when a certain individual who has started to pop up all over this forum said BR was an easy cop out but then started to post non-stop about how much money he could keep when he receives a windfall soon!!!!
Anyway, my post wasn't supposed to go on this long but i just wanted to let you know Jhonnie about my own personal experience and to let you know things can and will get better!
Keep your chin up and best of luck.
