iva nightmare

[69076H]

In June 05 we set up an iva with a company after our debt reached £70000 we followed all their instructions and set it up with payments of £450 a month I at the time had an income of £1450 p/month and my wife £420 and mortgage payments of £360. Payments were made every month but we still received the creditor’s letters and calls to home and my place of work and bailiff phone calls for about 8 mths. Every time we were contacted these people were given the details of the iva and company who were handling it. This situation got worse and worse and eventually bailiffs were at our door but we thought this was what the iva was there to prevent. When we tried to contacted our supervisor he had left the company and nothing had been done to move the iva forward from the time we set it up. So in that time we'd paid approx £3600 and nothing had happened but our debt increasing a lot.
A new supervisor was appointed and some of the money was re-embersed. But when the iva was started up again the debt was now huge with the interest charges so much so the charge was now £580 and was to be paid over 6 years rather than 5 years. In a panic we just said yes to this and started making the payments instead of seeking any advice from the citizen’s advice or other people which could have helped.
In Oct 07 we the received a letter saying we had not been making the full payments for 10 months and had to find a substantial bill of £5800 to pay them back. Stupidly neither my wife or I had checked our bank statements closely at all in that time as we would go to the bank and if there was money in we would use it for things we needed as a family we weren't at any time having a jolly up.
In that time the iva company did not contact us once to say they had not received the full payments and only received £40 I know it's no excuse but we signed an agreement for our bank to pay them £580 and in 10 months they didn't realise but they had taken the full payment for the previous months. The funds were in the bank at the time the payment was to be taken as it was dated for the day after I got paid. They didn't take any responsibility for not taking the full amount and the bank said there was no reason the full amount wasn't taken.
They sent a letter asking for an offer of payment and we replied asking what would be a reasonable offer by e-mail and letter no e-mail response came but a letter came 6 weeks later just again saying they wanted an offer with no funds available I turned to a parent and she made an offer of £2500 this was sent on the 27th dec 07 as they had to receive a reply by 04 jan 08 we then waited for a reply which came on the 05 feb 08 but was dated 29 jan 08 this letter said nothing other than (following your failure to maintain regular voluntary contributions I have no alternative but to petition creditors for decision whether or not to petition for your bankruptcy and 21 days for response). All the time we have been going through this process communication with the iva company has been very difficult we'd phone them up and the supervisor would be busy and would call us back but the call would never come, Letters from creditors would be sent and we never got a reply that they would be dealing with it and more letters would come e-mails are not responded to they keep sending land registry letters for me to sign which are signed and returned but I still get more.
When they did the yearly income check my wife and I had to send 2 of our latest payslips we sent them together they received hers but said I hadn't sent mine sent a threatening letter but I had to wait 2 months for the payslips. My latest concerns are about the bankruptcy will we lose our house we don't have any arrears on the mortgage but don't know what will happen. We tried to go about this responsibly by going through the iva but we should have taken advice in the beginning but the fear of the debt made us make these decisions.
Now after 3 years I don't know whether bankruptcy could have been the best option. If anyone can give us any advice it will be gratefully received.
We have now found out the iva has failed but not from the iva company but from one of the creditors they found out on the 10 mar but we still havn’t been contacted. Is it possible to try again to get an iva with another company and if so what are the chances of it being accepted.

[MelanieGiles]

Hi there and welcome to the forum

Your post is actually quite hard to read, so it would be helpful if you could paragraph it into sections.

It seems to me, from the general flavour of your post, that an IVA in hindsight was not the right option for you - but this does seem to have been frustrated by the advice and support you have received from your IP company.

It might be worth getting another IP to look at your current circumstances, who can then advise you on all options available to you. I have represented failed IVAs in the past, but creditors will naturally be sceptical about your ability to stick to a relatively rigid repayment plan.

[ianmillington]

Hi

I would echo Melanies sentiments.

Your history is a bit difficult to follow. I suggest you get a meeting with a local IP (most of our profession will meet you FOC) at which the IP can get a proper feel for your case and advise accordingly.

Ian