wow, when i set up my iva a few years back i was told the allowance for 2 adults and 3 kids was 600 per month(food etc) added to this was the cost of bills (utilities/insurance etc) now with 4 kids the allowance according to gov figures was 700 last year and with the increase in bills and food it should be around that for a family of 4 (the sum includes monies for extras like pets and birthdays) not to mention the contingency allowance of around 100 per month (to be reasonable) after 1 year of my iva my savings of 500 were gone (just to make up the shortfall in my income to expense) we havent had a holiday in 3 years and only have 3 days/nights out a year, all this means we now have an additional debt of 1500 and still cant make the required payments
who knows a good responsive IP will advise on all aspects before starting the agreement (including where to bulk up you allowances to the max using official figures) and adjust payment plans to ensure your able to maintain the agreement.
sadly mine is most likely to fail in the near future due to not receiving the above advice at the start, probably my fault for waiting too long before i sought help and rushed into an iva still with the extra debts accrued since the start of the iva at least i can now go forward into a new one when this one fails and maybe actually get a proper plan from the start (i know if i had someone like Mel to run things i would of been better off)
