Were you not asked whether you incurred childcare costs Paul, as part of your interview process? That is a pretty fundamental question for someone with young children.
Possibly Melanie but at the time it was even less than it is now. Its only a small amount each week and it won't have an impact on the IVA, just my wife has been paying for it all and thats why she feels the budget is tighter tahn what I thought it should be. It would make little difference to the bigger picture. Its just a question of arranging the overall budget to suit really. A lot of bills like council tax you pay more than the monthly allowance and then get 2 months where you dont pay. I can make it work with the contingency budget and then just use breaks in council tax and water rates payments to put back into the contingency. We are in a position whereby all of our household goods have at least a five year life left in them, it will probably just be the cars where we need the contingency fund for. Wifes car has just had mot and new tyres all round so that gives a bit to play with out of the car budget. We can still do this without any variations apart from the unexpected which no one can budget for in an iva. We will do it, no worries.
IVA.co.uk The best place for debt advice. Thanks to Melanie Giles, David Mond, David and J (Elv5) Kallis, Dand, Skippy, Andy Davie
Paul, I don't wish to interfere but I can't understand how your budget has been calculated; we have a general contingency, petrol, car maintenance and several other items; some I forgot to mention but Tom (Melanie's office) put them in.
I admire your optimism Paul. Optimism is often the main thing that gets people through a debt repayment programme, but a well thought out budget comes a big second.
We have a general contingency which we didn't put in, they have given us more for dentist than we need which we will put towards other things but they have put us under budget for cars as we have two. Its my fault as I left it down to Paul to sort out and didnt know a lot until I came on here just before it was accepted. We can get through the first year and with Paul's pay rise have some extra next year. We would not have been accepted if we had put different budgets in and we didn't want to go BR. We were stressed at the time too. I know we will cope ok.
David, We will finish this together no problems about that. Yes optimism is the main thing to get people through but I also know that the budget is correct for our proposal. The only slight worry is to get 2 cars through 5 years without any major repairs required which from what I have seen seems to be a concern for the majority in an IVA but hopefully we can get around this if it happens by means of a payment break or cap in hand to my wonderful mum. So yes I am optimistic just as much as I am realistic and the reality is I will be completing my IVA.
IVA.co.uk The best place for debt advice. Thanks to Melanie Giles, David Mond, David and J (Elv5) Kallis, Dand, Skippy, Andy Davie
Ivas4us - Optimism is a fundamental trait for a successful IVA and as Melanie states a sound budget comes a close second. Both you and Wonder should ensure that you try and keep to the budget you have and if there are any problems as envisaged with the cars a payment break is always available.
Any problems give me a shout.
Regards, David Mond, Insolvency Practitioner for over 46 years. Personal Insolvency Practitioner of the year 2012, Personal Insolvency Practitioner of the year finalist 2013 & 2014 awarded by Insolvency & Rescue Magazine and 2015 finalist for Personal Insolvency Firm of the Year.
Thank you David. I know we are in safe hands and also know the budget is achievable. Reality is that most of us entering an iva have probably been using credot cards for day to day living and not been working to a budget, hence we now do not have the luxury of using a credit card when our income does not cover our expenses and all the extras we also desire. It is a learning curve and probably a very tough one for the majority at the start of an IVA. But I believe anybody that grasps the nettle and behaves in the manner that is needed to successfully complete an IVA will go from end of a steep learning curve to the other. Yes I accept that some IVA's have failed because the budget was probably not right for the individual circumstances but for the rest if the budget is right you will only be successful if that is what you truly desire and for me that will mean that for the next five years I will not be having the latest computer or digital camera and will have to make do with what I have. One thing for sure is that I will come out of this experience a lot better than I went in and this can only be achieved by choosing an appropriate IP like I have done.
IVA.co.uk The best place for debt advice. Thanks to Melanie Giles, David Mond, David and J (Elv5) Kallis, Dand, Skippy, Andy Davie
Congratulations to Melanie, I had seen so many posts from ivas4us and Wonder and had never latched on to the fact they were together! Every thought of going to a Murder Mystery Weekend? [:)]
Back on the topic of finances within a relationship, my IP and other people I talk to are very surprised when I say that my wife and manage our finances separately. Until the IVA proposal I had no idea what she earned and even now I don't think she know what I earn. We never open each others post or even answer each others phones. It is nothing to do with secrecy but more to do with independance. Its interesting to see how others operate.
just reading your post with interest and it is good to see how others operate. we are opposite in our household, my hubby has never had anything to do with finances(probably why we are in the position we are in now) I open all post etc he doesnt even know how much he earns some months. it is left to me to organise all bills etc. it does annoy me soem times as i took on all the stress of bills and setting up iva, but to be honest i think i must be a control freak
We used to have joint bank accounts and joint loans. But we split up for a while and we had to close the joint accounts as we had debt with them. I know what my husband earns, I make sure of that. [:D] Also I pay some bills and he pays others. We have our own account now because of iva.
I'm similar to bic. I deal with the finances (not always successfully otherwise I wouldn't be here!) and the banking. He does open his pension slip every month so knows how much he gets! I make sure there is enough money in the account to cover us every month. He gets benefits as well so sometimes we have to pay some of those across.
We've had joint account pretty much since we moved in together (many years ago!) as I hadn't a clue how much money we had in the household as he never used to write in the cheque books what had been issued to whom and for how much!
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
