Payplan IVA, again

[jc4]

Hi again, hope I'm not being a nuisance with this. As I said in previous postings, my husband and I are both on an IVA which began in July this year. I do not work and am in receipt of Disability Living Allowance but my husband works full time. My husband's IVA stipulates that he must pay 50% of any additional income. He had to send payslips for July, August and September and Payplan have now told him that they want over £600 for the three months. A lot of the extra income for this period is due to my husband working quite a bit of overtime in July. When we started the IVA, my offer of payment for mine was £125 and my husband's was £246. However, they would only accept the IVA if we increased our monthly payment, mine had to be £155 per month and my husband's had to be £266 per month. We agreed to this as we were desperate to get the IVA through. We are finding it a struggle making ends meet.

We have been talking about this today and have realised that when Payplan worked out our monthly income and expenditure, they based their calculations on four weekly payments, as my husband gets paid weekly. However, there are four months a year in which there are five paydays. This means that in calculating 50% of any extra income, for those months with five pays, he is in effect giving up half of a weeks pay. This surely cannot be right. Can we ask Payplan to recalculate the monthly income by working it out over thirteen weeks? My husband is really angry about this, we should have considered this more before the IVA meeting in July, but, as I said, we were so desperate to have it approved that we didn't really consider everything. I do not see why, due to the way things have been worked out, my husband should only get half a weeks' pay once every three months. He is at the point of stopping it if we cannot sort this out.

Sorry for going on for so long, but any advice would be bratefully received.

[MelanieGiles]

Your husband's salary and 50% uplift provision is being calculated incorrectly if what you say is correct. The IP should compare his earnings over a 13 week period to the salary declared in his IVA on a monthly basis, and seek 50% of all additional earnings.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[jc4]

Thanks Melanie, do you think I should contact Payplan immediately to have them sort out this matter? Otherwise, I can forsee a time when we have to cut back on other things in order to meet the payments.

[MelanieGiles]

Absolutely - and get them to check the calculations they have done for all previous months so far. You can also do this yourselves by calculating your husband's net earnings for each quarter - that means finding the wageslips for 13 weeks for each calculation - and comparing that figure to three times the salary he declared within his voluntary arrangement proposal. The difference gives you the figure that he should pay over 50% towards.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[jc4]

Thank you so much Melanie, I hope we can get this sorted out.

[mish1953]

JC4 - please dont take offense at this - its not aimed at you - its aimed at Payplan & your creditors.. you said that you dont work and that you are getting Disability Living Allowance - and that you pay £125 into the IVA - please correct me if Im wrong but thats a state benefit paid out of state funds to provide financial help for those that are physically disabled .
You just know where Im going with this - why the blazes are the IP & creditors using state benefit, paid for from UK taxation, as payment towards a debt ? IMHO there's something morally wrong with this.
JC4 - im not having a pop at you but at the 'system' , frankly if I were you and they ask for more - you said that they are asking you for £155 now - I would tell them to shove it ! Theve got a b***** cheek taking anything off you . Grrrr

Slainte
Mish

[MelanieGiles]

I agree with those comments Mish, but there is also a school of thought which says that if creditors are prepared to lend money to people in benefit on the first place, why shouldn't they also be able to have the benefit of an IVA when things go wrong.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[jc4]

Thanks for those comments, I have to admit that I'm a bit annoyed at having to hand over my DLA. I am registered as blind, although I do have some vision, but there is no guarantee with the condition I've got that I won't completely lose all of my sight. I would like to be able to buy necessary items to help me around the house but this will not be easy when I have to pay my benefit to the creditors. I did try explaining this to my IP but he didn't seem to care. But, yes Melanie, you are right about creditors lending to people on benefits, although all of the credit cards I had were given to me on the basis of my husband's income, not my DLA.