Notes from Experinece

[Dominic]

Just some notes from my experience to date now the iVA has been accepted.

No.1 Be honest with yourself and others, do not hide anything it will only harm your cause, do not leave out th odd credit card or two, this could well jeapordise the IVA.

No.2 Be realistic, after you have had your IVA approved you will not be able to jet off the Barbados, when you set your lving costs as part of the proposal leave nothing out in an effort to make things look better than they are.


No.3 Stay calm (not good at that myself admittedly) Don't Panic as the famous book says, you will get nasty letters and phone calls ignore them as best you can.

no.4 Good Night and Good Luck (also a very good George Clonney film)

[admin]

Hi Dominic, Congratulations on your IVA being accepted and thanks for your postings. Please keep us updated on progress and if you get the opportunity to stay involved in the forum to pass on the benefit of your experience, I am sure everyone here will appreciate it.

best,

Admin

[DMB42]

Dominic,
Congratulations on getting your IVA accepted and for the good advice. I think being honest with yourself is vewry important!! It has to the be first step back.

[gizmo]

Congratulations Dominic!! What a relief for you.

I met my IP yesterday. It was worth the 4 hour each way journey! She was able to answer all of my questions and made everything seem much less daunting. I was taken aback though at something she said about the debt advisor company who had referred me to her. They had calculated my disposable income as 1367 pcm and asked for the first payment in that amount before the papers could go to the IP. I paid it (borrowed from my sister) and the IP did get the papers the next day. Given the stat demand situation they have worked really quickly on it. When I met with her though she went through our income/expenditure again and said that some of the info given to me by the debt advsor was incorrect. She calculated my disp income as 1185 which makes us feel better as it was going to be incredibly tight on 1367. He had told me some things could not be allowed for which the IP said was incorrect and put them in. There were also a couple of other things I had been told which were not true, eg if an interim order was required I was told this did not have to be applied for in my home court. I was really worried about that as I am in court every day. The advisor said not to worry (as did an advisor from a different company) and this wasn't the case. That is wrong however, any applications have to be in your home court. An application for an interim order though is submitted by the IP and it a paperwork exercise so no attendance at Court is req'd. The IP was also unhappy that I had been asked to make a pyment upfront - I understood that payment to be the 1st of my IVA payments should it be accepted but have been told that no, it is the money charged by the debt company in getting the paperwork together (I did nearly all of it). So I feel a bit let down by them now. Not at all by the IP who I feel very confident with but it does show that things are most definately not what they seem at the time. Thankfully it will be the IP I deal with from now on.
Ours is fairly complex due to the huge debt involved but the proposal will be ready by the end of next week. We have a decent-ish offer to out backed by a lump sum top up but I will not settle at all until it is over.
For anyone looking to start the process now I just thought this may be helpful to know.
Good Luck for this afternoon Bluebell!

[bluebelle]

when you are in a situation of starting an IVA process it is really worrying because you just don't know who to trust....yes you can shop around and compare companies but I guess you dont always get the measure of them until you have signed up to them and are in the process...if they turn out bad then often it is too late to do anything. I made one initial enquiry back in Jun with a firm who i won't name, and they worked out my monthly payment at over £100 more than what has been accepted in my IVA today...they told me with the debt i had i would need to have at least £520 disposal income. Anyway i didn't commit to anything back in Jun. it took until Oct and probably an extra £3K+ deeper in debt before I contacted another firm who i gave now gone with. Both the IP and Debt Man company have been really good....i have no complaints and only compliments! My IVA will be approved today....less than 6 weeks from that initial phone call. Guess i am one of the lucky ones.

[scooby]

Well done dom five years til freedom

[kezza]

Hi Bluebelle,
Who did you end up using if you don't mind me asking [:p]

[bluebelle]

Kezza...i went with Myvesta (they have a web site). They referred me to a company called Grant Thorton. Got to say both firms have been really good and professional and no delays. I have heard so many bad stories on here about people who have waited months just for the creditors meeting and whose IP and Debt Man companies have been very poor with the service they provide...blamings backlogs etc...i am very lucky that i had one of the better companies...i really feel for those people with delays...waiting is the most difficult part.

Anyway hope this helps

Bluebelle

[kezza]

Thanks Bluebelle
I've just got on the first rung of the ladder, got to wait now for draught proposal and date of creditors meeting etc. I will have no nails left till it's sorted [:u]

[neverending]

Gizmo
Your case shows that it is probably best to go direct to an IP rather than through a third party.After all these people are not going to advise and work for nothing.