I have been paying an IVA for nearly a year and i am happy to do so.I have been away from work for 6 months due to breast cancer and was able to keep up the repayments with the help of my family. My question is due to this scare I would like to give up work I am 63 and i know the iva wants the equity in my home after year 4 will it mean if i continue to work until the iva has run the 5 years will i still have to pay all the money i owe plus all the expenses incurred in setting up the iva obviously all i have done then is added to my debt and be forced to work even though i will be 67by then and will not be able to pay another increase in a mortgage with equity release. Could you please explain to me what is the usual situation as i feel if that is the case i would be as well doing that now and save myself 4 more years of work I would be grateful for some advice Thank you
Hi Florence and I too and sorry to hear about your health problems. You must decide what is best for you and this would depend a lot on what equity is in the property and whether you want to keep it. I believe that remortgages are difficult to obtain at this time so a settlement by this route would be difficult but a voluntary sale may raise sufficient monies to satisfy creditors. Alternatively, if you wish to keep the property it may be possible to raise a lump sum from family to offer as full and final settlement but this of course depends on family circumstances. Finally, it may be possible to offer a variation whereby the fourth year valuation is removed due to your ill health but you did work on for the remainder of the IVA term.
You could of course petition for bankruptcy and this may well be the best option but again this depends on your equity and what you want to do with the property. I would speak to the IP and very best of luck.
