www.iva.co.uk

I am in charge of our lottery syndicate at work and I manage the account online. It means that every 6 weeks I make payments of between £30-£105 to the National Lottery - this obviously shows up on my bank statements. My colleagues give me cash for the purchase of their tickets and I then use the cash for food shopping/fuel, rather than paying it into the bank.

This means that my bank statements don''t show many food shopping or fuel transactions (but i have receipts to show the cash purchases for these) - when I have my review/have to submit bank statements to my IP, will this be a problem?

I''m worried it will look like I have some sort of gambling problem! I have official signed syndicate documents to show we have a syndicate at work and this also shows how much money I collect for the tickets so it all balances out... I''m just concerned I''m going to get an admin headache trying to prove that the spending is legitimate to my IP.

I find my IVA is my only cause of stress and worry in an otherwise trouble free life! I was already in charge of the lottery syndicate before the IVA started but have never mentioned it to my IP as it seems irrelevant - it does not provide me with any extra income, does not forn part of a credit agreement etc. I spend £10 a month of my contingency fund on my own tickets for the syndicate (which presumably is allowed?!) and I haven''t ever won any more than £2!

I''d just like to know if this is something I should be worried about as I need to show 3 months bank statements soon and they don''t exactly show a true representation of my expenditure!

This is not a problem at all Karis, so long as you explain how you work your finances to your IP. When you work with your IP on a regular basis, you build up a trust between professional and client, and I personally would have no problem with you continuing to operate in this manner - so long as you declare those windfalls!

Hi Karis.

I would imagine that questions will certainly be asked about the payments to the National Lottery - especially at that level.

It would be best to explain the situation to your IP now rather than letting him or her raise the subject when they get your bank statements - perhaps you could use your post as the basis of a letter to them. You may need send them a copy of the syndicate documents if they ask for further proof.

Don't worry about it too much, it seems perfectly above board and innocent to me.

Remember though, if you win you will be caught by the windfall clause in your IVA and will have to pay all of your winnings into the arrangement