Hi - am in need of advice again. My travel costs for work have recently gone up, I am due to lose child benefit in full in January and my mortgage is increasing as I am with Santander and they have increased their variable rate. My husband is still having difficulty finding work and the net impact of this is that my budget will be in deficit by £229 per month which means I will be unable to keep up with my payments of £150 per month. My husband has recently found out that he can draw down a pension from a job he left 11 years ago as he is now 55. If he were to draw it down he would get a lump sum of £14,000 and a monthly payment of £176. The monthly payment wouldn't be enough to enable us to pay £150 per month into the IVA. The IVA is in my name only. If he drew down his pension and lump sum would we be able to use part of his lump sum as a full and final payment and if yes are there any suggestions on what might be an acceptable offer? Our property is in negative equity (approx 55k)and we have a clause in our IVA that says if equity can't be released payments will be extended for an additional 12 months.
Hi again Sasha, you are having a tough time aren't you? I would think that if you are in negative equity they wouldn't be able to extend your IVA by 12 months in lieu of equity as you have none!
If your IVA finished at the end of 5 years, what is the total amount of payments that would be made if you were able to continue to pay £150 a month? That's where you need to be looking at a starting point for offering a F&F, however, as your circumstances have changed significantly and you are unable to continue any payment whatsoever towards the IVA from January, then I would look at offering less as your husband is going to need some of this money moving forward to cover your budget in the longer term.
Make sure your husband takes advice about disturbing his pension. That money could be very valuable to you in retirement, and you should be very careful about affecting long-term investments. If you gave negative equity in your property, is bankruptcy now not a better option to consider?
Thanks for the advice and responding so quickly. My husband has other pension provision which he won't touch until he is 60 and I also have good pension provision. The value of the pension he can draw down at 55 had an unexpected dividend and is paying out much more than we had thought so is a bit of a bonus. I really don't want to consider bankruptcy (I live in a very small community and don't want my circumstances to be made public)if it is an option to consider using part of his lump sum. We will take professional advice but at this stage I would like to be clear on all the possibilities so I can weigh up our options
As you know I recently had a variation reducing my payment to £150 per month and from January I will have 43 months left on the IVA (excluding any possible 12 month extension). Would an offer of 43 x £150 be considered as acceptable?
Hi Mel - that certainly gives me something to think about. Can I also just say that I have used this forum a lot (as a viewer not a poster) both before and during my IVA when I have been worried and not sure what to do. Your advice always stands out as reasonable to creditors and compassionate to people's personal circumstances. Both you and all the advisors on here deserve an award for your services to people who have found themselves in financial difficulty. Thank you so much.
Hi - just wanted to update. We decided to go with a Full and Final offer using funds from my husband's pension and it has been accepted....needless to say I am delighted.!! I know we are incredibly lucky (despite the misfortune we have had along the way) as our IVA was only 18 months from beginning to end. I am so grateful for the advice I received from my IP originally and entering into the IVA was the best decision I made about my finances in a very long time. If I hadn't been in an IVA I would have been in an incredibly stressful situation and bombarded with calls from creditors as I certainly couldn't have maintained payments with my change in circumstances over the past year. My IP at all times has been understanding non judgemental and supportive and I will be forever grateful and thankful. I feel as if I have my life back, every aspect of my family life improved once I signed the IVA as the constant worry about debt was gone and I could see a clearer future. Thank you to all the posters on the Forum this is a great advice and support community and provides an invaluable service. Good luck to everyone who is on an IVA journey and here's to a brighter future for all of us.
Congratulations from me too. Your case goes to show that creditors are sympathetic and despite your changes in circumstances you have managed to reach an agreement with creditors fair to all. Best of luck for the future.
