F/F accepted, Particular thanks Andy and Melanie

[mick.i]

My Story!
Hello all. I am a first time poster and would just like to say what a great site this is and wish I had found it sooner.
I am almost two years into my IVA with a company called (am I allowed to say on this site?). My first payment was in July 2005.
My first 10 payments were £735 x 10 but then due to a pay increase at work the remaining 50 payments are to be £960 per month giving a total pay back to my creditors of £55,350 of the £72,150.35 originally owed. (61p in the £)
The whole process has been relatively straight forward so far although some months are a struggle.
I live in rented accommodation so have no mortgage.
I may be in the position of borrowing some money from a family member and would be keen to offer a lump sum of money for an early finish to my IVA.
A few questions...
1. What would be a realistic offer?
2. My family do not know I am in an IVA and I would like to keep it that way, so will my IP need to contact the person that is willing to lend me the money?
3. How long does this process take?
I hope someone out there can offer me some much needed advice!
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[MelanieGiles]

Hi mick and welcome to the forum. Glad you are finding the site useful.

As one of the forum experts, and an IP also in general practice, I usually apply the number of outstanding contributions, and then discount for my fees in years which will no longer feature in the IVA. So in your case, I would probably ask the creditors for three years fees - the third to cover the cost of variation and closure.

Your IP may not necessarily need to contact the person who is giving you the money, but they will need to be certain that it is available and payable. In circumstances like this, I like to see the money in my client account as this brings certainty to the proposed variation and shows goodwill on your part. The money can always be returned if creditors turn down the offer.

There is no set time-period for proposing a variation, so you will beed to discuss this with your own IP.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[mick.i]

Hi Melanie, thanks for your quick reply.

So would you say 25-30k would be a fair starting offer?

[Adam Davies]

Hi
1 would have thought that 30k would do it.
You have paid in approx 19k [??]
less 5500 IP fees[£2500 nominee fees,£2000 for two years supervisor fees and £1000 for variation] totals 13.5k,you need 44k to give a 61p dividend so another 30k should be enough.
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson and site manager
(aka Neverending)

Please check out my blog: http://andydavie.blogs.iva.co.uk

View my profile here:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

[mick.i]

Thanks Andy/Melanie,

My IP is on leave for a couple of weeks! so during this time I will draft a letter with an offer. Is this the best way forward or is it better to speak to them in person? I have had no reason to speak to them since I started my IVA and have just trusted them to do the right thing.

One concern I have is that if the offer is not accepted they will still ask for the money.

This really is a helpful site and your knowledge/advice is very much appreciated.

[mick.i]

Hi All,
Although my actual IP is on leave for a couple of weeks, a colleague of hers has gone through my file and suggested I make an offer of between 25-30k.
Do you think I should try to guarantee it being accepted first time by offering 30k or should I go somewhere in the middle?
Also, as stated before the monies will be coming from a family member whom I will need to pay back, so shall I put in the proposal that I need to make monthly payments to them as i had been to the IVA?

[MelanieGiles]

If you have been guided at £25k to £30k, my personal view would be to offer £25k leaving you some leeway for further negotiation if necessary. Don't forget that you need to pay this money back, and will have to be in a position to afford repayments.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[mick.i]

Thanks Melanie, can you tell me if this is the kind of letter that you would expect from one of your clients....

Dear....

Following a conversation with your colleague ...., today June 5th 2007 I am writing with a proposal for you to offer my Creditors a one off payment of £25,000 to end my IVA early.

I am in a position to borrow the money with an interest free loan from a family member whom I would need to pay back on a monthly basis like I am already doing with the IVA.

I could have the money in my bank account within a month to show the creditors that I am in a position to pay but obviously if I am refused then the money would need to come straight out and back to the family member.

Please can you advise if you think this could have a favourable outcome and anything else that I will need to do to make this achievable?

Thank you for your help with this matter and I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

(do you think i'd need to add anything to the above?)

[MelanieGiles]

I think that letter is fine - you just might want to add the amount of the instalments you will be paying your friend back and over what timescale.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[mick.i]

Thanks to Melanie and Andy for your advice and suggestions.
I have just sent off my offer to my IP for a settlement so I suppose now it will just be a waiting game for a few weeks.
If anyone knows the exact precedures from when my IP receives my offer to a decision being made? could they let me know what happens and rough timeframes?
Also what happens if the offer is declined, will it go against me at all at my next review?
Can the offer be increased (as I have gone with the lowest amount recommended)?
Is there a limit to how many offers you can make for a full settlement?
Many Thanks

[MelanieGiles]

Mick

Your IP will consider the offer and respond to you when he is ready. There is no set format for this, so I suggest if you have not heard anything by say 7 days give him a ring.

Assuming that your IP agrees to recommend your offer to creditors, then he will compile a suitable report and issue this to the creditors giving them at least 16 days notice of the meeting. If your offer is declined you can increase this by ongoing negotiation with the creditors for a period of up to 14 days. There is no limit to the offers you can make - but do watch your own credibility as creditors may feel that you have not put forward your best offer in the first place if you keep increasing.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[mick.i]

Hi Melanie & others,
From your experience what sort of % of early settlement offers are usually successful?
If my IP thinks the offer of £25k is worth proposing to my creditors and they accept what will my next few steps be? I.e. would I just make an arrangement to forward the money to my IP and then everything is done and dusted or is there much more to it?

[MelanieGiles]

From my own experience, I have never had a variation offering an early settlement turned down, so the success rate is pretty high.

I think I've already explained the mechnics of the variation in my earlier post. Discuss how your IP wants to deal with the issue with them directly.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[Adam Davies]

Hi
I have successfully proposed a full and final,its just as Melanie states i;e if your IP agrees they will propose an offer via a variation meeting and your creditors will vote.If more than 75 prcent of voting creditors by value vote yes then your IVA will be concluded once you pay over the amount and its distributed to your creditors.You will then receive a final report from your Supervisor and a certificate confirming that your IVA has been concluded satisfactorily.In my own case it took just over three months to conclude my IVA from the successful variation meeting.
Hope this helps and the very best of luck
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp

[LEW]

HI MICK.I

I WAS JUST READING YOUR TOPIC, AM I RIGHT TO SAY THAT YOUR ARRANGEMENT WAS FOR 55,350 AND YOUVE PAID 19000 AND YOUR GOING TO OFFER 30000 THAT MEANS YOUR PAYING 6350 LESS THAN YOU AGREED. IS THIS ALOUD, MY IP INSISTS I PAY A LOT HIGHER THAN WHAT MY ARRANGEMENT FIGURE WAS INFACT IM BEING MADE TO PAY A FURTHER 23000. NOW IM REALLY CONFUSED.