Halifax...

[princessb]

Hi there,

I've been trying to find out the answer to my question by looking around the forum but couldn't find anything! I was just wondering what Halifax's stance was where IVA's are concerned? They are our major creditor and we are in the initial stages of setting up our IVA.

[MelanieGiles]

Hi princessb

Halifax use an independent firm of "experts" called The Insolvency Exchange who also vote for HSBC Bank plc. At present, they appear to be accepting most IVAs offering a minimum dividend of 25p in the £, but whether this will increase to mirror the 40p in the £ of HSBC remains to be seen.

The Insolvency Exchange operate a fairly harsh allowable expenditure matrix, which is based upon the British Bankers Association Common Financial Statement. This is extremely tight with regard to housekeeping, clothing, mobile telephone, Sky TV and miscellaneous expenditure - and they are failing to see the need to allow for contingencies at the moment but we are working on them!

My experience of Halifax is that they are a fair, commercial creditor - so as long as your IVA is offering the best deal you can comfortably afford I would go for it!

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

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

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

[princessb]

Thanks Melanie. I did speak to a company the other day which is one of the experts on this forum and I got my list of expenditures through and it has been exaggerated. For example, it says we spend £70.00 a month on life insurance when we don't even have any. I want to be as honest as possible with my creditors and will pay them back as much as I can afford. I'd like advice from somewhere else as this company is also asking for £600 before they even start working on our case.

Would I be able to speak to you Melanie?

[MelanieGiles]

Is there any reason why the firm you have approached are putting down false expenditure? Perhaps there may have been some misunderstanding? You really do need to be honest with these figures, as your eventual IP will have to confirm that they have fully researched everything and confirmed the accuracy of your statement.

I have no problem in you contacting me directly, via my e-mail address.

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

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

[princessb]

Thanks Melanie, I've sent you an email.