Well, I've been in an IVA for 3 years, started at £200 which jumped up to £317 a month when I cleared the HPI on my car (I did agree to that in advance as I only had a few months left on it). Since then my gas & elec (combined from 1 supplier) has gone up from £36 a month when I started the IVA to £79 a month currently; my mortgage has had one increase when the fixes rate ended - and food inflation has been what, 18% over the last 3 years (I should know, I work in the industry!).
Over the same period my salary's only gone up by 1.3%. And my disposable income's shrunk by around 18% over the same period. So why has my IVA contribution gone UP by over 15%??? (from £317 to £386... I'm not taking it back to the £200, if I did then it would be a whopping 93% increase in contribution...). When I complain about being more and more squeezed, my account handler actually gets ANGRY and says if I don't accept it well, I'll be in breach of my Terms. However, my wage slips & P60s all the way back to 2010 clearly prove my salary's not gone up by 1.5%, let alone 5%. And I've a copy of the contract - and the terms clearly say that my contribution should only go up if my income goes up by more than 5%. Another acct handler who spoke to me whilst my current one was on holiday looked into it, and confirmed I should still be on £317 as per the Ts and Cs. But despite all the proof, my acct handler still won't have it. Maybe it depends who you have as an account handler..?