Help

[Cosmo]

I have been in an IVA for almost two years & received my first annual review last summer.

I am required to submit income & expenditure forms every six months.

Last spring I was asked by my company to switch to a temporary shift pattern. This was supposed to last until Christmas however, they have maintained this shift pattern for the foreseeable future, as their is going to major workforce restructure, including redundancies at the end of the year. As a reward for working this shift pattern, which has meant working longer & unsociable hours, I received extra pay, paid not every month but as special payments so we didn't get used to the extra money, although they have recently started paying this monthly as the workforce were against continuing to help them out, if they maintained the special payment arrangement. This was by no means compulsory & I could have refused and continued with my current shift, which I now wish I had, but unfortunately it's too late as they are maintaining the arrangements prior to a workforce restructure which may result in job losses - including mine.

Foolishly, I continued to fill in my income and expenditure as based on my previous pay. My IP has now requested pay slips for all previous I&E forms I've sent in, along with my P60 for this year.

I've still got this money, so that's not a problem, how do I stand on this? Apart from being very worried about not mentioning this on the I&E, how will this extra money be viewed? As overtime? I also don't have a clause for OT in my IVA so, I don't know what impact this has too.

To be quite honest, I've never been 100% happy since I started the IVA - I was better off in debt management, of course I would have been paying a lot longer & as you'll read later, I also had personal reasons for wanting an end to the debt which I don't wish to discuss, but ruled out bankruptcy. I don't think my outgoings are realistic, for starters my Personal Hygiene is only £12 a month & I'm with a private dentist who charges double this just for a check up, in fact, since starting the IVA I've only been to the dentist twice out of fear - not of the dentist but the cost, I had to have a crown a year or so ago and that was £300 - again I never mentioned this in my I & E. I actually get extremely worried just by having to fill these forms in and hate doing so.

Reading this forum I see that you can actually propose an IVA based on a one off payment rather than over a 5 year period - something I was never told of at the time, or I may have considered plucking up the guts & going cap in hand to my sister.

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Cosmo and welcome to the forum

Your IP is obliged to supervise your arrangement in line with its terms and conditions, so of this means you have to pay more money over from your increased earnings then they are just doing their job. Technically, you should also be obliged to do this under debt management as well, but given that these arrangements are no more than gentleman's agreements, they tend to be far more flexible - of course it can take far longer to repay.

If you feel that route is still the best option for you, there is no problem in reverting back to that, but your IVA will be defaulted and this will remain on your credit file.

[goulda]

Cosmo,

All these expenses you have mentioned can be included in your expenditure at your review and will offset some of the increased income

[Cosmo]

Hi Melanie,

Firstly, may I say that I wish I'd read this forum prior to proposing an IVA.

Assuming I continue with the IVA, what would you suggest I do re: my payslips & P60 showing different info to the I&E that I have already submitted?

Reading this forum I see that many people have clauses where overtime & bonuses are treated as 50/50, mine states nothing about any of this. What does this mean?

[MelanieGiles]

You need to submit your wageslips to your IP as they have been received and see what they say about increases. If the proposal says nothing about annual reviews or uplifted monies, then you may be able to argue than no increase is necessary.

[Cosmo]

You need to submit your wageslips to your IP as they have been received and see what they say about increases. If the proposal says nothing about annual reviews or uplifted monies, then you may be able to argue than no increase is necessary.

So should I submit a cover letter trying to explain why I haven't mentioned this on the I&E forms or just send them and wait and see? This is what I'm worried about.

I also can't send the P60, as I don't have it yet and probably wont get it until May/June.

[Cosmo]

You need to submit your wageslips to your IP as they have been received and see what they say about increases. If the proposal says nothing about annual reviews or uplifted monies, then you may be able to argue than no increase is necessary.

So should I submit a cover letter trying to explain why I haven't mentioned this on the I&E forms or just send them and wait and see? This is what I'm worried about.

I also can't send the P60, as I don't have it yet and probably wont get it until May/June.

Can anyone help me on this as I'd like to send the payslips asap and get this over and done with - I've been worried sick about this all weekend.

[MelanieGiles]

I would send a letter to your IP explaining all of your concerns so that they can consider this further. I am sure that they will treat your concerns seriously and that this is a minor rather than a major issue.

[Cosmo]

Thanks Melanie, my main concern was that they'd default my IVA when they saw my payslips amounted to more than what I'd previously stated on my I&E forms.