IVA - nearing end of 1st year worries

[600andy]

Hi all,

My Wife & I are just approaching the end of our 1st year in an IVA and are now getting nervous about the annual review. What is involved? My Wife picked up a small cleaning job to help but if our IP wants 50% it wouldnt be worth doing it, so were concerned about this. Were also concerned that our costs have increased a lot in the last 12 Months as nothing ever gets cheaper, especially with 3 kids. How was the first review for those of you who have been there before? Some advice would be appreciated. Generally, our IVA is hard work and leaves us with very little to play with - many things cannot be afforded - car repairs, dental work etc which is crazy. The next 4 years are going to be no easier. Any advice / encouragment appreciated

[facingittogether]

hi sorry i cannot advise you re your review as we are only 2 months in to our iva!

i did however think that 50 per cent of of extra income has to be paid to your iva, i could be completely wrong in your case but i am sure a expert will be along to advise you!

barb x

[Viki.W]

Hey andy, welcome to the forum. I can't help either but I'm sure someone will be along shortly who can. Sorry you're struggling but I would have thought it would be better to have the income from your wife's job, usually, in many IVA agreements you can keep the first 10% and then the remainder would be split 50/50 between you and the IVA, so it would still be extra for you. Viki X

[aguise]

Hi there and welcome.
I have had one review and had to send wage slips and fill in a new I and E.Different companies do have different rquirements, some want p60 and bank statements as well. I also sent proof of rises in expenditure in the form of receipts or statements. Eg gas and elec payments went up by £27.00 and rent by £25.00, I needed glasses wheer I didnt before so this was allowed.
Hopefully they will allow this to be recouped from your wifes extra income.If your proposal states 50% of any extra income then that is what should be paid. We do overtime and I still find the extra 50% goes a long way to helping with christmas and contingency fund for those little mishaps we all come up against.
I had no problems with the review so hopefully you wont either.
I am as I always say not a technical expert, so wait for other answers

Ang

[aguise]

Sorry all a bad typing day or should I say worse than usual.

Ang

[Beans on Toast]

Hi Andy, well done for getting the first year out of the way. I believe you should be as honest as possible with your revised I & E and keep your IP in the picture with regards to your worries.

Everyone is aware of the current financial situation and I'm pretty sure they would be expecting you to express concens over what you can afford in the future. No one wants to see your IVA fail so contact them asap and get your worries out in the open and see what advice they can give you.

Best of luck.

[600andy]

Hi all,

Thanks for the welcome and thanks for the advice. I guess we will have to wait and see. The thing with the job is that it brings in a small sum that allows a few treats for the kids and pays for a few things the IVA didnt allow for. My Wife hates the job really - its not condusive to family life, not particularly pleasant work and leaves her tired, and us all suffering from the strain of not seeing each othr much, but she dos it anyway because its not a fortune but it helps. I guess we should be glad to be able repay a little more of our debt without any quibble but the price we pay only just makes it worth th reward hence after tax with a 50% loss would render the job simply not worth it. I thnk we have struggled because we havent yet fully mastered how to budget on so tight a margin and in fairness are finding it harder than we thought it would be although we have not lived like paupers. Its easy to feel sorry for ourselves but we are under no illusion that we only have ourselves to blame. We will I am sure get the hang of this new life style - we have to as we stil have another 4 years to go, although it has to be said, the first year has indeed flown by. Thanks to all who contribute to this superb web site as your stories of success and encouragement are an inspiration. Many thanks, Andy.

[600andy]

Apologies for the dreadful spelling - more haste and less speed would probably have helped![:)]

[aguise]

All the best andy. i
I am sure things will be fine. Get down to the budgeting skills there are some great tips on some of the posts on here. Maybe admin might know where to look.
Look at all that you spend and see if there are any places you can save money.

Ang

[600andy]

Thanks Ang - yea, I know we need to be doing this better and I think we have exhausted all obvious savings with Insurances, energy etc. Next target has to be how we shop - I have seen some interesting ideas and suggestions on here. Never been a great Tesco fan but their value range must surely be the way forward. My Wife & I discussed this last night and we have decided She will ditch the cleaning job for now. We will of course miss the money albeit a small amount, but must look to make savings in our spending to replace the income. That said, She can always take it on again after the review if really neccessary although if we are so dependeant on a part time cleaning job (which we are not) then we have bigger problems anyway! Again, thanks to all for your experiences and advice. ndy

[600andy]

OK, so the review came and went - and we discovered that the original document was missing a load of information - so after a lot of wrangling and renegotiation, addtiional expenses were allowed which pretty much offset themselves against the marginal increase in income. My Wife did ditch the cleaning job in the end which turned out to be a good thing - family life has improved significantly, and my annual pay review made up a lot of the difference. We are just waiting to hear back from our IVA company as the whether or not an increase in payment is due although we know that if it does, it will only be a small one. So there we go, first year survived and we are settling down in the new pace of life and counting the time off before we regain full control of our finances totally debt free. Funny thing - I have never once missed my credit cards - but have certainly missed the lifestle we enjoyed - only now I know that I should never have had that life style as I couldnt afford it. 5 years is a long time in an IVA and all sorts of changes happen. Anyone reading this and setting off on this scary road - it IS hard and you DO have to make changes to your life, but once you get going, it isnt so bad and you DO learn how you went wrong and you DO earn a new respect for money...

Andy

[Julie]

Nice to read your update Andy - you should do a blog [:)]

[600andy]

Nice to read your update Andy - you should do a blog [:)]

Hi Swans_girl - thanks! How do I do a blog? (bit of a novice to this sort of thing).

Andy

[Julie]

If you click on Blogs at the top of your page, you'll see a list of all the blogs. Read through as many as you can to give you an insight on others experiences.

At the bottom of the blog page, there's an option to register. Follow the steps, you'll get your username and password and way to go!

Its not for everyone but it does me the world of good to get my emotions and feelings out, good and bad! By reading others, I know I'm not alone.

Please give it a try as its great to read how others cope. Moretolife is the moderator and she'll give you blog advice too.

Good luck xx

[MelanieGiles]

IVAs are meant to bring comfort back to your finances, and allow you to maintain a reasonable standard of living. If they are too punishing in terms of your finances, they will probably fail - and no-one wants to see that - particularly your IP. So at the time of your review, do make sure that you advise your IP of all the expenditure items you need allowances for, so that they can take this into consideration in terms of your review.