I am looking for advice. I entered into an iva in sept 2007 with debts of £27,000. Initially the company said they thought the payments would be £300. Then when they went through our income and expenditure we were told we could afford £360. Once the creditors meeting went ahead this then went up to £450. We were desperate at the time and were petrified of going bankrupt so we agreed to this and struggled to meet the payments every month. We then started to fall behind a bit on house bills due to making sure our money went to making the IVA payments.Last november we'd had enough and spoke to the company about reviewing our payments as we really couldnt take any more and this was meant to be helping us not adding to our stress. At the time they said they would have to look at our income and expenditure and then possible call for a variation meeting but for the time being to reduce our monthly payments to £300. This was much better for us and we can meet these payments. Today i had a phone call from them saying that theyve been through our income and expenditure and our original creditor meeting details and without calling a meeting they can reduce our payments to £382. However as we have only been paying £300 a month on the iva we are now in arrears and on top of the £382 for the next 12months we will have to pay more to clear this.I was never told this was going to happen, and I'm pretty upset by this as now we are back to square one.They agreed to reduce our payments whilst they went though things as we couldnt afford them and now they've put us in debt so we've got to pretty much pay the £450month again and our iva has been extended by 4months!!
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Let your IP sort this out for you in their own way. It is them who have to put their name behind a variation, and therefore they will want to now make sure you can afford the payments on an ongoing basis. Don't worry too much about the arrears, as these can be waived or tagged onto the end of the IVA if necessary. They key thing is that moving forward you feel the payments are comfortably affordable. So many people seem to be pushed into voluntary arrangements making unaffordable payments without giving much thought to affordability. This is tempting at the time, simply to get rid of the creditor pressure, but in the long run it is a recipe for eventual failure.
hi guys thanks for your help.. still a realy worried the company were kinda saying that 382 was final and we had to pay that much they say to call another creditors meeting would cost us another 350. i can just about afford 382 with my overtime but there is talk of a 40 hour week and if that happens there is no way i could meet this payment. should i just pay for now and pray my overtime stays or should i do a meeting????? help im worried. also the company normaly speak to my wife as i cant use my phone at work and they were giving her a hard time about her not having a job but we have a little boy of 3 and a job wouldnt cover child care. they just were not being nice. i thought this iva would stop all the worry but i seem to be just as worried and im living on the edge counting every penny. i didnt think i woud have loads of spare cash but i didnt think it would be this bad.
thanks again
Thanks for your guidance. Just one more thing before i go back to my company tommorrow. My company are basing our payments on my wages with overtime. Is this right??? If my overtime gets taken away my wages will go down to £330 per week. So my overtime brings us in an extra £100 per week. if this was to stop we definately wouldnt be able to afford the payments. Should they be basing our payments on my basic wage or my basic and overtime as they are doing. It just worries me that I will agree to these payments based on the fact the overtime is available at work and i will do all i can not to fail this iva only to find out that the overtime next month will be taken away and i will not be able to pay it. Its worrying me and my wife sick, especially my wife. She's 25 weeks pregnant and hasnt slept for the last few nights due to thinking about it all. We really want to continue paying off our debts but are just wondering if we should bring this up tom with our company. Thank you
nadakuss wrote:
Thanks for your guidance. Just one more thing before i go back to my company tommorrow. My company are basing our payments on my wages with overtime. Is this right??? If my overtime gets taken away my wages will go down to £330 per week. So my overtime brings us in an extra £100 per week. if this was to stop we definately wouldnt be able to afford the payments. Should they be basing our payments on my basic wage or my basic and overtime as they are doing. It just worries me that I will agree to these payments based on the fact the overtime is available at work and i will do all i can not to fail this iva only to find out that the overtime next month will be taken away and i will not be able to pay it. Its worrying me and my wife sick, especially my wife. She's 25 weeks pregnant and hasnt slept for the last few nights due to thinking about it all. We really want to continue paying off our debts but are just wondering if we should bring this up tom with our company. Thank you
Is it regular and guaranteed overtime? Hubby's basic is around £30k PA, but with overtime and oncall he has made £50k PA for the last few years, based on figures on the P60.
Our IP worked out an average monthly pay packet which included overtime and oncall & call out bonus and our IVA repayments reflect this.
We have 6 monthly reviews too, to make sure we aren't paying too much or too little.
My understanding was if it was the odd bit of overtime here and there then the 50/50 clause applied, but if it was regular then it was taken into consideration on the I&E form.
This is a tricky one really. On the one hand you can argue that if the extra isn't guaranteed then you shouldn't include it but on the other hand if your P60's for the last few years show something different then you can argue that your creditors should not suffer either.
Best to speak to your own IP to put your mind at rest.
Regards.
Cert DR
23+ years in debt advice
I do not post for anyone other than myself
