Hi, here's my story for those of you about to enter an IVA. i ran a small business and managed to amass a huge debt to hmrc, credit cards and a couple of suppliers £180k!. i had equity to release but due to hmrc issuing a Ccj without warning my chances of remortgaging were scuppered!!. on the arrival of the dreaded statuary demand i had no choice but to go down the iva route. i scoured the internet and plucked for an insolvency practitioner called Wilson Field and through myself at their mercy. i had researched the likelihood of the proposal being accepted and spent many nights worrying over it. The process was quite simple and an IVA was proposed and accepted. As hmrc was by far the largest creditor it all hinged on their approval. in fairness to them and despite having easily enough equity in my house and 3 buy to lets to cover the debt they accepted with the condition that at year 5 an equity release would add to the total collect by the iva and achieve 100p in the pound. At the year 5 anniversary i was asked by the IP to provide valuations on the property's so an equity release could be offered to Hmrc regarding the 100p in the pound. i rang a local estate agent and asked them to value the properties which they did and were happy to take my advise on what i thought they were worth. Conveniently for me the valuations only covered the mortgages!

. This was put to hmrc and they agreed to 12 months additional payments and that was that. They actually only achieved 20p in the pound.
During an iva period, no credit is achievable. i did however hang on to one credit card and both my Barclays current accounts with over draft facilities in tact. i hadn't included them in the iva and they were never mentioned?. i also managed to get vans for my staff via octopus vehicle leasing, a car for my wife from Money barn and an invoice factoring facility from Bibby Financial services. so basically you wont be completely stuffed for 6 years. one issue was mortgage interest rates plummeting and me stuck on standard variable. another tuff lesson!. pretty much on the 6 six year anniversary all the bad credit on Equifax falls off. my advise it get onto your IP and get your completion certificate. i did and managed to get the insolvency data base updated. once done i called Santander, Halifax ect and asked if they had better interest rates on offer. swapped straight away and now considerably better off.
So what have i learnt. Pay Hmrc on time. they never go away!!. Dont be afraid of an IVA, with the right I.P it can be a life saver. Only tell them what they need to know. And in 6 years you can be back in the real world with a lesson learnt and a story to tell.
Cheers All N (here to help)