IVA Halifax

[MelanieGiles]

The Official Receiver's staff will only see you as a "rogue" if you have acted as one! If your debts were taken out in good faith, when you believed you could repay them, and events outside of your control have caused you to be in your current position, you can hardly be referred to in such scurrillous terms!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[bowie]

Well, im going to ring the courts on monday morning to request the hearing. can anybody tell me what happens after the judge declares you BR.i read somewhere that you get a pack from the OR and they require statements etc, but i do not have any of that info and if the account is frozen how can you get statements???

[Skippy]

Once you have been declared BR you will either speak to the OR on the same day to arrange an interview or they will contact you shortly afterwards. The OR's interview can either be face to face or on the telephone - it depends on your OR's office.

You will be sent a BR 'pack' - I got mine before my interview but I think Sadsack got hers afterwards. You will need to send them statements, loan agreements etc if you have them, but if you don't have them the OR will be able to get them from your creditors.

In my blog there is a list of things that I had to return, and I think this is pretty standard.

I completed the forms online - www.insolvency.gov.uk. They are fairly straightforward and you don't have to complete them all in one go as you can save them as you go along. Before you go to court you will need to print the forms, but don't sign them as you will do this in front of the clerk of the court. Check with the court as to how many copies of the forms you need to take - some courts want one copy and others want three. The only other thing you will need to take is the fee - £485, although if you are on benefits you will be able to claim part of that back - £150 I think.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[catullus]

Hello Melanie

Yes we had a case knocked back recently with three lines of credit.

Two of the lines were Barclays and Barclaycard (who never speak to each other, as you will know) and a certain firm with a K in it(!) rejected purely on the grounds that there really were only two creditors and they should negotiate directly.

Voting policy seems to be swinging all over the place at the momement and doesn't make life any easier, does it?

[MelanieGiles]

I don't think I have ever worked in a more inconsistent and muddled marketplace! I had a creditor (who will remain nameless, but no "K"s!) this week, seeking to allow only £175 for housekeeping and £25 for clothing, for a single professional person living in inner London. The guy is a self-employed playwright, and they even wanted him to cancel his broadband subscription! Ridiculous, and needless to say that after a call from one of my colleagues we got most of their demands overturned.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[Adam Davies]

Hi Melanie
Are you finding you and your staff spend more time on getting each new case through,compared to six months ago ?

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

[MelanieGiles]

Absolutely Andy - and one of the problems we are dealing with is unrealistic modifications, that clearly have not been properly thought through by the people proposing them.

I hate to say it, but I think that current standards are going to lead to a worsening of standards in our profession rather than improving them. If IPs are always going to face ridiculous requests for increases in expenditure, where guidelines prepared over two years ago by the CCCS are being quoted which are out of date and not even used by the Government's own Insolvency Service, the IVA process may be abused in order to counter this.

I have already heard instances of pet expenditure being put down, where there are no pets, and non-smokers mysteriously taking up the habit! Can I hasten to add that this will never happen in my own practice!!!

More work - often unecessary - against an arena of reduced fees. You can probably understand the amount of apathy that currently exists amongst professionals at the moment, but we will soldier on and hopefully restore lenders confidence in the IVA as a very viable repayment option in due course.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Yes that is always a possibility when expenditure is squeezed and really is a dangerous way to proceed.How does it make the IP and their firm seem to the debtor ? How can the IP then condone any wrong doing by the debtor once the IVA is up and running if they themselves have been less than honest ?
What a mess

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

[bowie]

hi, why is it that someone can go missing and then asfter so many years get it wiped off.a friend of mine racked up debts of £70k and just ignored letters and his partner just said that they had split up and well 7 years later, he just laughs and is completely free of debt. is it true that after 6 years the company can no longer pursue the debt?

Chrz bowie

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Yes,if you have had no contact with them for six years I believe that the debt is unenforceable,twelve years for debt relating to property
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

[Andrew Graveson]

I think in the instance that bowie refers to that might not be the case. The statute of limitations applies where a creditor has not contacted you for 6 years, but not if you have ignored their letters or otherwise evaded the creditor (for example moving without notifying them of the change of address) in a deliberate attempt to avoid the debt.
It is 12 years where secured on property.

Andrew Graveson
Independent Mortgage Broker & Bright Oak Debt Management
andrew@brightoak.co.uk
www.brightoak.co.uk

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Yes,you make a good point Andrew.Otherwise we could all put the post in the bin for six years !!
So your friend is not debt free,the credit companies use very sophisticated tracing methods these days and will surely catch up with him one day.
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

[bowie]

Good point, my problem is that as i have got one creditor i cannot get an iva, i cannot go bankrupt as when i got the loan i exagerated my salary, i am told that if i went bankrupt the official receiver could look back at the application and contact my old employees to varify my salary, if they did this then surely i coulld go to prison for fraud, sounds extreme but i am just thinking the worst, does anybody think thast a debt management programme may be best for me? chrzs

[catullus]

Hello Bowie

they'll have to have some very large jails to accomodate all the people who got self certificated mortages, if you are right!!

In fact, it's fairly unlikely that the OR would look this deep in to your affairs and probably would only do so if the particular creditor made a complaint. Even if they did you would only be looking at a BRU since, at this level, it would be a civil matter.