Hello everyone. I’m new on the forum and halfway through an IVA but my circumstances have changed dramatically and I am now in a situation which I simply can’t cope with.
I hope to get some good advice here because I’m literally on the edge and finding Creditfix most unhelpful to say the least. All I get is ‘what the creditors want’ thrown at me and seemingly I’m not a consideration at all. Originally I was with Melanie Giles (PJG) but then transferred to Creditfix.
#8232;My IVA started in October 2013 owing £67k to my creditors.#8232; My monthly payments were £685.
In early 2014 I developed quite serious knee problems and was off work for lengthy periods. I’ve had 3 operations since then. From January 2015 I could not work at all and I was granted a 15% reduction in payments from August 2015. Payments were £582.
A few months ago I ultimately lost my job (NHS) due to ill-health and am still signed-off by my Doctor long term. I’m 60 years old and it’s highly unlikely I will be able to work again. I am now receiving Employment Support Allowance of £280pm. I also have two company pensions amounting to £445pm. My wife only works part-time, £370pm.
Up to now I have maintained all my payments and have just enough to pay at the end of this month.
After talking everything over, my wife & I decided the best realistic option was to sell our house, pay off my IVA and either buy a cheaper home or rent. Either way we would still need extra money to take us up to State Pension age, especially with my ongoing knee problems.
Our house is valued at about £210k and we only have £8k owing on the mortgage, so estimated a net amount of £190k.
I did a fair amount of research etc. and we decided that we would only sell if I could get a Full & Final Offer accepted to settle my IVA.
I approached Creditfix last week.#8232;
1) seeking a payment break from next month. They seemed reluctant to even discuss a payment break, saying I’d already had a 15% reduction in payments.
#8232;2) to discuss a F&F offer + the House restriction in place. I made it clear we only wanted to sell if we could get a settlement figure agreed in advance. They said it was not possible to put my F&F offer to the creditors because there was a ‘sustainable amount of funds in equity’ and the creditors would likely reject it and insist the full amount. They sent me a breakdown showing a figure of £64k was required for payment in full and they were not prepared to go to the creditors with anything less.
My F&F offer was £36-40k. I based this on the balance of 72 monthly payments @ £685 plus £8-12k towards the original debt of £67k.
So far I have made payments of 21 x £685 and 11 x £582. So about £21k in total.
Creditfix’s breakdown of the £64k was:-
Claims Lodged - £69k (2k more than it says on my IVA?)#8232;
Costs - £500#8232;
Outstanding Supervisor Fee 15% of Further Realisations - £8.4k ?
Less...#8232;Funds in Hand - £550#8232;
Dividend Paid - £12,130#8232;
Supervisor Fees paid to date - £1,350
******************************
I simply don’t understand their figures, or their refusal to get my F&F offer considered and frankly am now a mental wreck.
Was my F&F offer unrealistic? Will I have to pay this £64k? Where is the £21k I have already paid in their figures? We have made our decision to sell & I just can’t cope with an IVA on top of my health problems anymore.
#8232;#8232;Can anyone offer any advice please? Many Thanks in advance.
Approach it like this --- regardless of the equity you will not be able to remortgage, so will simply pay an extra 12 months .... so -- assuming your IVA was a 5 year agreement, add 12 months for equity -- you will pay over a further £23,280 if the IVA runs as normal.
So --- you can offer to sell up for the purposes of a F&F of £30k -- so the creditors will be getting more. Or, you will tough it out and the creditors will get the lower figure in the end.
You can insist this is put to the creditors for THEM to decide.
My opinions are merely that .. opinions based on experience. Always seek professional advice.
IVA Completed 23rd July 2013 .... C.C. 10th January 2014
Yes Foggy I said exactly that to them - but they are refusing to discuss anything but their 'breakdown' with me with regard to any F&F offer.
So what can I do?
And I'd still like to know what their breakdown figures mean and where is the £21k I have paid already shown?
From the figures you have given I can see the following
Dividends Paid £12130
Supervisors Fees Paid to date £1350
Costs £500
Funds in Hand £550
Adding these up gets to £14530 from the £21k or so you have paid.
I am wondering if they have missed off some of their fees they charged you to set up the IVA in the first place or some of the 15% they may have already paid to themselves??
Lisa or someone will hopefully pick up on this with more knowledge of how it works.
Do NOT sell your house or offer to sell it in order to settle the IVA!!!
If you paid everything off in full you would need c£87k less the total realisations paid into the case. I can't calculate the missing figure from the figures disclosed as I do not know what the total realisations have been.
This is on assumption statutory interest applies to your case.
IF you have standard terms in your IVA then they will state that if you cannot remortgage (you won't be able to) then the 1 year extension will apply.
This means if you can scrabble together funds (your wife? Third party) to pay either the outstanding contributions over the remaining term or in an up front lump sum then your IVA will finish and you will get to keep the house and ALL of the equity.
The problem here might be that you are asking you IP to tell you what lump sum settlement your creditors will accept - your IP can't do that, you have to put the proposal offer to him/her and s/he then has to call a creditors meeting asking them whether they accept the offer, not the other way around.
To be clear asking for a settlement figure in full is not the same as asking for a f&f settlement.
One is payment in full to include costs and interest. The other is a lump sum off to settle the outstanding payments in full and bring the IVA to an early end.
By my rough calculations you have c 3 years left to go - those payments would amount to c£21k.
This is what you would base your settlement offer on.
You can reduce it arguing that you cannot maintain the current level of payments and they should be reduced to reflect your net net disposable income.
Personally I would do whatever I could to keep the house and equity.
I have just noticed you have said you have paid c£21k to date. By my calculations that would leave c£66k to pay which is roughly in line (even more) than the figure they gave you so it would seem very roughly right.
Happy to send you the breakdown Lisa. Thanks, where do I email it to?
I actually didn't ask the IP for a figure - I told Creditfix I wanted to make a F&F of around £36k.
How about a payment break - it says I can have one of 6 months in my IVA document but Creditfix said no?
Lisa's details can be found under the expert link on the left hand side of the page.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
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