I stuck to what I could afford, IVA accepted !

[whattodo]

I have been trying to arrange an IVA but the process is not going well. My wife is not interested in cooperating as the debts are all in my name and she would prefer I declare myself bankrupt. We live in rented accomodation and the only asset I have is my car, valued at £5780. The most frugal choice would be to agree to my wifes demands and file for bankruptcy,but I truly wish to make some sort of recompence to my creditors and would therefore prefer to take the IVA route.

The only real difficulty with bankruptcy is that as soon as it is advertised in the local press, our positions at work would become untenable and we would therefore have to resign and live off my pension for the duration of the bankruptcy. This would mean no return whatsoever for my creditors.

My question is this, does the official receiver have to place an advert in the local papers in all cases? If this was not the case I would be able to make payments of around £750 per month for the 3 year period of a payment agreement as oposed to nothing with the advert being placed.

Any and all advice/opinions invited.

[scaredkez]

hi i am afraid the notice has to go in the paper, but on the other hand if you can afford £750 per month you really should look at an iva, or DMP with that disposable income, what are your debts and who do you owe, i am sure one of the experts on here will be able to give you some advice.
kerri

Please view my blog at: http://scaredkez.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[whattodo]

Hi there,

Debts £69,000
Monthly Income £3748
Monthly Outgoings (demonstrable) £2963
Surplus available £785

Referred to Grant Thornton 5 weeks ago by Myvesta. Received proposal asking for £1150 per month. They totally ignored the breakdown of outgoings in favour of 'industry standard' outgoings. Well sorry, but if my electricity is £122 per month (12 monthly budget scheme) I don't really care that the industry average is £50 per month. I even agreed to stop smoking to reach a figure of £785. They are presently reviewing the proposal but I have made it clear that I will not pay more than this as the IVA would fail before it even started.

I have put my wife and family through a great deal over the past 6 years since being medically retired from my job because of the effects of chronic pain. Entering into an IVA is what I want to do so that I can feel I am doing the right thing but a big part of me is now at the point where I just want an end to the difficulties the situation is creating in my marriage and bankruptcy is becoming a far more simple proposition. A DMP would not work as my wife wants a fast resolution to the situation and a DMP would not provide this.

The £785 per month equates to £47100 over the 5 year period. I would have thought my creditors would prefer this to the alternative which would be £0000 under bankruptcy. Or am I being unreasonable in this assumption?

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Well if the fugures and comments above are correct then shame on Grant Thornton for dictating expenditure.I wonder if partner Mark Allen is aware of this practice ?Good for you for refusing to pay more,stick by your guns because an unrealistic budget IS a sure way to fail an IVA.
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

[scaredkez]

as andy says stick to your realistic figures, don't let them change it as it will be doomed to fail, i used myvesta for a DMP and they were very good, try contacting another IP and see what they say, as you say your creditors will i am sure be much more glad of the return you are offering now, than they would get under BR, do you own your own home is there any equity and does your wife realise that if this is the case the home could go and any other valuable assets that you may have, BR is not a walk in the park and should only be used as a last resort when all else fails, i know this is a very stressful time and the effects it has on relationships, i really do think you have an alternative before BR is considered, our resident IP is on holiday at the mo, she is back on the 16th and i am sure she would be able to guide you well, send her an e-mail, look for melanie giles in the members profiles and at least get a 2nd opinion that way.
kerri

Please view my blog at: http://scaredkez.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[aguise]

Hi there
You stick to a real budget, how can there be a standard for electricity, we are all at home for differing lengths of time so may use more than others, bigger and smaller houses, old lose more heat than the newer properties.
Dont accept anything you cant live on as Andy says if you do then you will fail or struggle.
All the best

Ang


Please visit my blog at http://aguise.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[sonyse2t5]

You should put the £785 per month payment forward.If creditors don't like it they will say pay us another £100 extra or whatever, but your IP shouldn't be offering payment proposals on the high side to them - just to squeeze out more for fees.

[Sadsack]

Don't let anyone place you in a position where you are paying an unrealistic amount into your IVA - sure as eggs are eggs - it will fail. I was placed in a similar position and after 1 year of being in an IVA, I had to take the step and petition for BR.

9 days on - 1086 to go!!!

Sue

Ho Hum! Think I'll bang my drum!

Read My Blog
http://sadsack.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[whattodo]

Thanks all for the advice. Just to update, I told Grant Thornton that the £785 is a take it or leave it offer for them and my creditors. Made it clear that this is the best offer I can make given my personal circumstances and that there is no modification that will be accepted on my part. If the agreement is not accepted, so be it, my creditors will lose out but at least I will not have agreed to something that I know will fail.

Low and behold, a new proposal was drawn up in the amount of £785. When the second proposal was emailed to me I compared it to the first one. Surprise, surprise the fees being charged by Grant Thornton had reduced from £15000 over the 5 years to £11150. No wonder they wanted me to pay a ridiculous amount the first time, they got considerably more money off me that way.

That really pissed me off because they were prepared to reduce me to living from hand to mouth just to make more money out of my situation. Vultures or what?

Still, its taken more than 5 weeks to get this far so there is no point in going elsewhere. That would just increase the time until it is all sorted out and mean more phonecalls than I am already receiving.

Thanks again for all the advice.

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Well it's good to see that the advice from this forum has helped you and resulted in a more realistic proposal.
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

[aguise]

Well done for sticking to your guns and not accepting unacceptable living expenses. I hope all goes well, all the best.

Ang

Please visit my blog at http://aguise.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[scaredkez]

i am so glad you stuck to your guns, it just shows you, i am glad the proposal is now more realistic, all the best let us know how you get on.
kerri

Please view my blog at: http://scaredkez.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[jasperyogi]

Hi there whattodo,
The £15,000 fees is what B&E tried to charge me at first, so I had a look at my chairmans report and surprise surprise at the bottom of the report it requests that a copy is forwarded to grant thornton so they must be linked! When my meeting was held the creditors dropped the fees to £8,500!! So I would think positive if I were you because if the creditors want a bigger return there is £3,00 of fees that they can reduce even further!! Think positive, I am sure it will be fine!

Why spend life worrying...when you can spend it smiling!!

[whattodo]

Just thought I would provide an update on my situation. I stuck to my guns and Grant Thornton agreed to submit the proposal on my behalf. The creditor's meeting was today at 3.30pm and the proposal was approved with a few modifications. One modification related to Grant Thornton's fees and the other was a stipulation that health insurance would not be allowed in the expenditure. I rejected that modification as we have been with the same dentist for 11 years and there are no nhs dentists taking patients in our area. The modification was requested by one of the creditors owed the least amount of money and there were still sufficient votes to carry the IVA through once I had rejected it.

I was a little surprised that my car was not an issue for the creditors. It had not been included by me in the proposal and was valued at £5650. Managing 5 years with a cheaper, unreliable car was however out of the question as it would likely have resulted in problems in a couple of years time. At least this way I don't have to worry about finding another well maintained vehicle to get me to work.

The proposal gave a return of £0.52p in the pound at a rate of £785 per month for 60 months. This figure was the absolute best offer I could put forward and will still be difficult to maintain but it at least gives me a fighting chance of keeping the IVA going. Grant Thornton's original figure of £1150 per month equated to the minimum payments needed meet my credit commitments so if I could have afforded that I would not have needed to enter into an IVA. It would most certainly have resulted in a failed IVA had I agreed to it so it still confuses me as to why Grant Thornton suggested this level of repayment in the first place.

I will post the voting results once I receive the chairman's report. Good luck to those of you still waiting to have your IVA's agreed. Make the best offer you can and stick to it. It makes no sense to agree to something that you know will not work.

John

[emma_t]

Hi John

Thats a fantastic update, I am really pleased for you.
There was no point in agreeing to something unrealistic from the get go or that would be doomed to faliure.
I am glad that they accepted your i & e and the matter was resolved.
I hope you and your wife are happy with that and it will cut down the stress load and hopefully the arguments as you have an end in sight now.
Good news
Emma