IVA'S GOOD/BAD?

[markss]

I am about to enter an iva but have read so many peoples situations and bad experiences. such as the payments being incresed a lot. can any one share any good iva news?

[louisa.s]

Hi Markss,

We've been in an IVA for almost 22 months and the time has flown past. We pay £357 a month (debt was approx £48,000) and when we had our 1st review they did NOT put up our payments as we could not afford it, however this year it is probable that our payments might go up as we have had payrises but it does also depend on your I&E.

I have grown to love my IVA - it is a relief to finally have our debt problems sorted out - the budgeting took a while to get used to but now it is second nature.

Who are you going with for your IVA?

[ianmillington]

Hi Mark

If you stumble into an IVA, having been given minimal advice on its implications and the alternatives, then there is a likelihood you will have a bad experience.

If, however, you make the decision having been fully advised and walk into it with your eyes open, then the chances are your experience will be somewhat better. In my opinion the prosepects of success of an IVA are directly proportionate to the effort put in by the IP and his staff, and realism on the part of the debtor.

Having said that, in every case you are attempting to predict where you will be in 5 years and it's therefore inevitable that through nobodies fault will be cases in which something will go wrong. In that case, again, if you have worked closely with the IP and his staff you maximise the prospects of rescuing the IVA.

Hope this helps

Ian

[caraf]

Louisa S
Did you pay over all of the payrise or just 50% of it ?

[louisa.s]

Hi Caraf,

We paid over a proportion of it as our I&E had changed somewhat significantly. I emailed all the documentation over to GT along with a revised I&E and a letter backing up our new situation (ie I now had to pay for parking etc) and they were fine with it. And when I did offer to pay more when my car insurance dropped they actually said I didn't have to I could just wait until our review! (so I've stuck it in my car account), we actually pay £20 more a month voluntarily and i suspect we may have to increase by the amount of the drop in my car insurance come our review but we shall see.

[keh]

Markss

Welcome to the forum

When you get a pay rise YOU must take into account the rise in the cost of living.

so if your food bill was £150 a month with the cost of living it will have gone up to about £160
and so on
You enter an IVA and agree to pay a set amount each month with a yearly review. If your pay rise is taken up by the prices going up then i can not see your IP asking for more. But if you got a surplus then your IP will ask you to add it to your monthly payments

Hope this helps

[keh]

Hi Caraf

Good to hear you saving? £20

The way the fuel is going up you will need that money

so not really a saving just the cost of living going up

[ianmillington]

Those people who have gone into IVAs over the last few months may be better placed in that regard as frequently there will be a discretion on the part of the Supervisor to allow a reduction in dividends of up to 15% to take into account reductions in contributions. The good news is that that provison is also enshrined in the new protocol for straightforward Consumer IVAs. As a result if you are hit with a fuel bill increase that you can't afford, look at your chairmans report and if the clause is there ask the Supervisor to agree a reduction in your payments.

Ian

[markss]

hi everyone thank you for you advice Louisa im am going possibly with clearstart there are no up front fees and they arranged for courier to collect my documantation. my debt is £79k mostly cc/loans. i have openned a new bank account with yorkshire bank.

[keh]

Look at a few others as well

www.iva.com lists IPs and people give their personal rating

[caraf]

Hi Markss
We are with Clearstart, they have been brilliant with us up to now. Everything they promised to do, they have done. If I email the supervision department with any questions I always get a prompt reply within 24 hours. Would recommend them to anyone, very efficient too.
On the day of the creditors meeting, my meeting was booked for 12.30 and my husbands 12.45pm and Clearstart rang at 12.48pm with the answer, IVA approved, mine by 83% and my husbands by 100%.
We have 85k of debts and are paying 560.00 per month
Hope this helps
carol
x

[rachellxx39]

Markss , We are with Clearstart and they have been fantastic.Our ivas were approved in JAN 08. We actually met our ad visor because we didnt live to far away from the office in Nottingham. Have always answered our calls ,and provided a good service. They offered alot of advice and support.We had debts of £60k and our payment is £408 per mth.Good luck and i hope this helps.

[james.c]

Their is nothing bad about an IVA, becuase your trying to pay some of your debts back.

How ever it depend on situation what is bext for you.

For example when i went in to one i had no house, no assetts, but wanted to pay my debts back so i choose an IVA.

If back then i knew what my situation was then, i would of BR as i would only have to pay money back for three years and be better of every month, but i have now done 1 year, if i went BR now, i would start again with my credit file, so instead of it been clear in another 5 years time, it would be 6 years time and i would have payments to make for 3 years, which would like for like take me in to year 4 of the ivsa, only finishing my payments of a year early, so i am going to stick with it. But at the time of taking out my IVA it was the right thing to do.