I have been in an IVA now for three years

[emma.g]

I have been in an IVA now for three years. Since then I have been married. I now have savings, a home (my husband owned it before we married)and an excellent job. I was young when I initially got into trouble and have learnt the hard way from my mistakes. When I commenced the IVA I was not in any debt with my bank and therefore kept the account with all benefits i.e cheque book/ debit card. Since then for work purposes (expenses) I have a credit card which was given to me by my bank.Paid off in full every month. They say I have an excellent credit rating!! They score people on scale of 1-9 for risk purposes and and I was a 1. I actually asked them to do a credit search which they did and it came back fine. How can this be?? Obviously I won't be making the same mistake again but was curious to know the reasoning behind this?

[james_7]

Hi emma.g
From what i am led to believe you are not allowed any credit at anytime without approval from your IP whilst in an IVA. You say you also have savings now . I find this very hard to see that your IP has not asked you to pay this extra money into your IVA as the purpose of an IVA is to pay back as much as your debt as possible and reasonable. You clearly have excess funds let every month to be able to save. I am sure an expert will come along in due course and have some clearer information on this
james

[chris_]

Unless the savings are your husbands! - remember your debt is your debt and not your husbands. Be very carefull that you disclose your income and your husband's contribution to your household bills to your IP and then make sure that everything your husband earns is kept as his and his alone.

Your IVA payments are based upon your disposable income, and if this rises then your payments will need to rise as well - you must take into account your husbands 'half' of the household costs etc.

IE - if you set up your IVA paying £200 month but had household costs (rent etc etc) of £800 as a single person, and then you got married and moved in with your husband then your creditors would probably be entitled to half of your household costs as extra IVA payments due to your Husband contributing to his share of household bills.

This should have come up with your annual review, so I wonder what has happened here - any pay increases and overtime should also have been taken into consideration as well. The general rule as I understand it is that 50% of any extra income or released income (as in half household costs) should go to your IVA ?

Chris

[allan.f]

Hi,
You are allowed savings in an IVA,when you did your expenses you will have allowed for contingencies such as car repairs,tax insurance etc.These are usually lump sum payments and money has to be set aside each month to cover these (savings).I am not sure about the credit card if it is your name I don't think you should be using it,unless it is a coporate card for business expenses only.
Your bank will probably have used it's internal scoring system based on your customer track record and therefore will not have consulted one of the big three credit agencies so to them you are OK.
Good luck for the future and don't be tempted to go on that slippery road to credit hell again.

[MelanieGiles]

Can I firstly say how nice it is to hear from someone who is successfully managing an IVA, and not allowing it to take over her life. On this forum we regularly hear sad tales of people who have become disillusioned with the process.

You do need to be careful of the credit card, and make sure that your IP is aware that you are using one but that it is paid off every month. You are technically taking credit, but as long as it is used for convenience rather than anything else there should not really be a problem.

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 Emma and welcome.
That,s interesting,can I ask if you have moved house in the last three years ?
A question for Storm.
There are two main credit reference agencies,Experien and Equifax.Do certain banks,finance companies tend to use one or the other,do some use both.I ask because in my own case I am totally clear on one and not on another......seems a bit odd.
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