Just to add my bit as someone who has paid 100% dividend (as set out in my original proposal) - I doesn't matter what the dividend is or ends up to be, the IVA is a legal arrangement with legal terms and conditions - these should be adhered to by all parties. Plenty of people moan about creditor harassment and incorrect defaults and things, keeping a windfall to yourself is surely the flip side of the same thing - failure to keep up with the legally agreed arrangement.
As an earlier poster said, you & I got ourselves into debt, either recklessly or through our own bad fortune. Personally I feel a strong moral obligation to get myself out of my IVA without any help from family or friends.
My Nana is sadly unlikely to live much longer. No doubt my parents (who are fully aware of my IVA) will want to pass onto me some of their inheritance. Now as I see it that's my Nana's money, it's not money I've earned through work, and there's no way I intend to give any of my Nana's money to my IP (and indeed my parents feel exactly the same way).
I pay off my debts using my own income, my own earnings. I don't give 50% of money bequeathed to me by an elderly relative to an IP, that's her money intended for my long-term future - I feel that's my moral obligation to my Nana and to be honest I couldn't care less about my legal obligations to my IP - I'm paying off every penny of my debt and that should be all that matters to my IP.
Additionally, personally I find my current Case Officer absolutely terrible at entering into written dialogue with me, she herself has told me she'd rather deal with it over the phone, and I keep explaining that given my IVA is supposed to be a legally binding arrangement there needs to be a properly documented paper trail.
Those of us unfortunate enough to have to enter an IVA don't have any alternative to signing up with an IP. Yes IP's work for us, and I've no doubt some do more than others (I have the greatest of respect for those IP's who post on this forum) but generally speaking I am not convinced that the average amount of work undertaken on each individual IVA throughout its duration equates to anything like the fees that IP's earn.
There is a vast difference from your parents giving you a treat or helping out and getting a £9k bonus and spending it without telling the IP. All my clients are advised of the windfall clause and if they inform their relatives and have wills changed then that is a wise thing to do. Ultimately, people like your nan would not want their hard earned cash going to your creditors and others in the family can benefit or the money could be held on trust.
However, if someone enters an IVA knowing all their obligations and deliberately withholds money due to creditors, then this impacts on all arrangements and should be condemned. IVAs are not easy but in return creditors agree to write off the remainder at the end of the term with interest and charges frozen. The least they can expect is for the clients to be honest with their IP.
Agreed Michael, really that's exactly my point, if we all religiously adhered to the legal position we'd not ask relatives etc. to hold money or alter wills for us, we'd simply immediate declare every extra penny to our IP's and face the consequences.
Perhaps I've chosen a bad thread to post on - as we have all said 9k is a huge sum of money to get through, in whatever circumstances.
I would like to add to this that if I hadn't entered an IVA and something happened to either my parents or hubby, then I would have been able to clear my debts with inheritance. I think that would have been a wise way of spending the money.
Therefore I don't see any difference in paying inheritance to your IVA pot. Yes I agree that if you can get a will changed and not be named in it then that is fine - you are not doing anything illegal as you won't get the money.
At the end of the day, my personal opinion is you shouldn't enter into an IVA if you don't feel that you can abide by the rules, however unfair they may seem.
From my point of view I agree partially with Pavel, that there needs to be flexibility in an IVA and although there are T&Cs to adhere to, it can be difficult to play everything 100% by the book. Often this may be due to naivety or often as a sense of balance.
But £9k is different!! However, I don't want to judge the original poster as I for one know how easy it is to spend that sort of money (pre-IVA), especially if you have been living on the poverty line for X years. But the question is what does he do now?
I think the posts on here, particularly the threat of BR, would actually deter him from coming clean.
It is a tough situation for him but if as Michael said he may have been able to keep 4.5k, perhaps his monthly payment is £1k, so an extension of 5 months may placate the creditors.
