income fallen due to losing shift allowance

[getting there]

Hello to all!!!
First off this is my first post but have been following the forum for sevral months.
Have been amazed at how some people have been treated. We must all be criminals or something the way some poor souls have been hounded.
Now to my little dilemma that I hope someone can offer some info.
Firstly I'am dealing with Debt Free Direct. (avoid, they take forever to do anything).
My IVA has been running now for some time, 18 months to go (Yipheeeee!!!) mainly its not been too bad. Still problems do arise now and again but we have struggled through.
Due to my losing shift allowance at work my income has now fallen by 250 pounds a month. I currently pay 440 into my IVA. Therefore I proposed a variation in Jan as soon as I knew this was going to proceed. DFD eventually replied last month and to my horror they seam to think that I can continue to pay the same amount????.
After looking through their revised? income/expenditure list I found that for them to receive the same amount they had arbitrarily slashed all my expences. As an example we run two cars for work at a petrol cost of approx. 80 pounds a month, they think we can do this on 5 pounds a week each!!!
Other expenses have been cut accordingly. (Can they do this?)
Naturally I have informed them of our slight displeasure at this and they have agreed to review it.
My worry is if they maintain their stance life is going to be impossible.
Sorry for the long rant but worry tends to make me verbose.

[Adam Davies]

Hi
They can't dictate your allowances,however there is no garantee thatyour reduced paments will be accepted by your creditors.
Have you filled in a fresh income and expenditure form ?
Regards

[MelanieGiles]

There are some areas of expenditure which can be legitimately reduced, but you cannot change the price of petrol! And everyone knows that this has increased significantly over the last year or so!

[getting there]

Yes new income and expenditure was completed last Oct. No problems with expenses then!!
However as soon as I needed to propose a variation the problem started.
I shall be losing 250 pounds take home a month and they seam to think that cutting back all expenditure to make up the short fall is OK.
I would love to know where this money is supposed to come from. After all my expenditure is what it is....not what they think it could be.
Also on there revised? income expenditure they show an amount of 390 available to pay into the IVA therefore my current contributions of 440 can remain the same. Einstein I'am not, but even my maths say you can't pay 440 out off 390.
[xx(]

[MelanieGiles]

I completely agree and it is time to take this up with them directly. If the payments are set too high now, you will simply struggle to pay into the future.

[getting there]

That's the worry, we are now so far down the road and the winning line is in sight it would be criminal if things were to go pear shaped now.
I may be jumping the gun and that after the review they may realize that they have been.... overzealous shall we say. however they have not been too on the ball in the past. Things tend to appear a bit slap dash with them and things only get sorted after you scream the house down. IVA's can be stressful enough without having to worry whether they are really doing the best for you as well as the creditors.
After all if we fall down they are not going to get much back if we go bankrupt.
Will keep you posted on the results of the review....hopefully this will be before 2009!!!

[getting there]

UPDATE!!!!
It's only taken three phone calls only to be told that
"the person dealing is out of the office but are back now so will pass your request to them now" Hmmmm... same reply over three weeks?
Anyway I have now been informed that as I'am disputing my petrol allowance I shall have to supply one months worth of receipts. Thats just great another month delay as I collect these. Shame they did not ask for them at the start!
In the 4 years of my IVA I have never been asked to supply them and yet I have increased these on a yearly basis to account for the rising prices and not a murmur of protest.
Oh well, this month i had to use my contingency fund to make the payment and no doubt will have to do so for some time to come.
To be fair, I was told that I could decrease my payments though I was warned that this would be unauthorized??? so do I reduce the payments by the shortfall or not?
Kenny

[MelanieGiles]

Everyone knows that petrol has gone up enormously over the last year. Why can't they work out what your petrol expenditure is by calculating the mileage you undertake, the miles per gallon your vehicle can do and multiply this by the current price of fuel! Easy really!