Feel cheated

[Eliza]

Hi, well i should be happy today as my IVA was accepted but i'm not due to the modifications. When i first looked into an IVA there seemed a light at the end of the tunnel, but my proposal has gone from originally paying £250 a month then £380 and now £520 the creditors say. I want to disagree but don't really know my rights. Thinking about BANKRUPTCY but again don't know where to turn as i have my own home and car. I know i have to pay the money back £40'000 but I still want a life with no worries. For instance i need 2 new tyres and cause i made my first payment last month of £380 i couldn't afford to. Can i disagree with the modifications. How i see it is i'm trying my best and my payments will keep on going up due to other things such as when i pay my car off they'll get extra £100 when my children finish school/ apprenticeships next year they'll get extra monies then too. It may sound wrong i don't know just stuck as thinking 6 years of this is gonna be a brain ache. I don't want much just to feel comfortable rather than trapped. Basically they won't agree to my Virgin Media package 100 quid which i cannot change as i'm bound for 9 months. I changed it to make it cheaper therefore i changed to a TIVO box,they will allow me £48 which is fine if i could change it. Also something very important to me and my son is his martial arts school, you may think i'm being cheeky but it's been part of his life for years and it's £64 a month it may seem a lot but it's 4 x a week and it helps his asthma a lot and his social interaction problems and i know he won't change school plus the alternative schools are £45 in my area and on'y 2 days a week. What to do??? my

[lem]

That's a big jump! have they explained to you where they believe you can find another £140 out of your budget? I would want the answer to that first before I looked at my figures and could make a decision on how to proceed.

Yes of course you can reject the modifications, be guided by your IP though, the ramifications of rejecting are that your creditors refuse the IVA and then you have to start again, whether that is proposing a new IVA, DMP or bankruptcy. Which company are you with?

[lem]

I have just reread your post again and noted that the increase comes from the virgin package and martial arts school.

As regards the virgin package you are lucky they have come back and offered an allowance of £48 as the standard allowance for sky is only £21 a month, the option you have here is to either accept that or come out of your agreement now and add that debt to the IVA and take out a new package with an alternative.

As regards your childrens martial arts, I completely understand where you are coming from but you can't expect your creditors to allow this, my daughter has piano lessons which cost me around £60 a month but I didn't even bother putting this in as an allowance and just fund it myself.

I do think these two modifications are reasonable to be honest and I don't think you have much hope of having them overturned. Is there anything else they want to modify?

Being in an IVA isn't supposed to be a prison sentence but it is about compromising, we're asking our creditors to effectively write off a proportion of the debt we racked up, in exchange for that they expect us to modify our lifestyles to some degree, whilst still ensuring the essentials are provided for.

[Eliza]

Thanks for your replies, my Virgin package i cannot change at the moment but i will when i'm able, and yes i will find the monies for martial arts but it's just all the little extra's, it's just i feel from the onset it seemed more positive and they say they'd be no problem with this and that. I'm gonna agree with the proposal even though i'm not as happy as when i started this. Thank you x

[Sam Hawkins]

Hi Eliza, I'm sorry to hear you feel like this. As advised above you shouldn't feel like your IVA is a prison sentence but should be a debt solution which works for you and your family.

Have you spoken with your IP about the modifications ? Your IP will want the IVA to proceed, you should have a full and frank discussion with them about what you can afford.

It is such a huge commitment to be tied into what was the date of your meeting ? Sam

[lem]

I can understand your frustrations especially if your IVA company told you that it would be no problem, which company have you used? it's unfair for them to tell you that these allowances would be allowed when clearly they won't!

Just make sure you are comfortable with the repayments before you fully commit to the mods as you will be paying this sum for the next few years of your life xx

[footiemad]

I think in view of what you said about your son's asthma etc you ought to be able to give a good argument for keeping the Martial Arts allowance. You do not have to agree to the modifications and I would ask your IP to try again for you x

[Niobe]

Try again with the school - I know of other posters who have had specialist things allowed.

[MelanieGiles]

We regularly get special items of expenditure accepted by creditors, the key to success here is to make sure that things are fully explained within the proposal so creditors can understand why you have special needs. And don't forget that your IP may well have discretion to reduce your payments by up to 15% if you begin to struggle. Creditors won't bat an eyelid at this, and if they push you too hard initially they probably only have themselves to blame.

[Eliza]

thanks again for your replies, i've spoken again to my IP who is very nice and understanding as i started to cry when she told me the figure of £520 plus it will go up from here as my circumstances change. She told me she had gone back to the creditors and they would not budge on there modifications. I didi show good evidence of my son's condition but obviously they don't care. I know i got myself into this mess and i want to pay back it's just it feels a long struggle from now, i'm just gonna have to change the way i buy things especially food. I've managed to reduce my Virgin Media to £60, i thougt they could not do this but i spoke to a different operator and she reduced it for me, so happy bout that. Thanks again for your response and i'm sure i'll be on here a lot more from now. I do read a lot on the forum, i was just waiting til i had something interesting to write. I won't mention the name of the company as i don't have a problem with them they are all so nice and understanding and trying their best i suppose. So what i need now is a countdown like lem. xx

[Struzzo39]

Glad you managed to get some reduction.

[Sam Hawkins]

HI Eliza, keep posting on here, we are all here to help. You should post whatever feels natural as I am sure there will be lots of people with similar circumstances to you. Take care Sam

[sponge]

This is a good thread and is the heart of the forum, I don't think I bring myself to read another PPI post!

[Eliza]

Thanks x