www.iva.co.uk

we have an iva already in place we pay £270 p/m i work a little overtime to keep us a float there are 6 of us to cater for they have just dropped us a bomb shell by wanting now £600 p/m which realy puts a strain on everything and we can not afford to pay it does anybody know if they can demand this as it is causing a lot of stress and home issues between me and my wife

Hi and welcome.

Has your IP discussed with you where the increase is from?

That's one hell of an increase!

I agree that you need to speak to your IP and find out where this figure comes from.

That is an enormous increase, and I wonder how this has been calculated. Is this on the basis of income and expenditure information you have provided to the IP - and if so has your income increased substantially over the last year?

An IP ought only to demand an increase in their clients payments in the event that they have verified the affordability with their client and the client agrees to pay the increased sum through ongoing negotiation.

I had a similar problem, when it came to my quaterly reveiew, it was the 3 months over xmas when I did quite a lot of overtime, so NET salary was a lot higher than normal, I had a letter from IP stating that I had to increase my payments, all it took was 1 letter to state that the increase was due to overtime and not a pay rise, the IP reviewed the wage slips and I only had to pay 50% of the overtime over, make sure you contact your IP as soon as possible, to find out how they have come to the new figure as Melanie has said.

I review all of my clients earnings on a three monthly basis, which helps to avoid nasty suprises at the end of the year where extra money may have been earned but also spent.

I think the quaterly review works well, because as you say Melanie there are no nasty surprises at your review.

zzspudnick, let us know how you get on.

we have been running the iva for approx 2.5 years so we are halfway the first year i worked 7 days a week doing a lot of hours the second year i did the same and at the annual review they said we owed monies which we agreed to pay £25 p/w for the duration of the iva and changed to quarterly reviews i have cut my overtime down and on this quarterly review they want an additional £230 p/m so it works out at 270+100+230 p/m = £600 this is going to be a real struggle also can i demand to see what our creditors say we owe in a break down as they say it is about 30,000 which i know the figure should have been about 19,000

You should be given a copy of the annual report to creditors - ours lists what the creditors have received, what the Ip costs have been so far and what is left in the "holding account" - ask your IP for a breakdown of it.

have not recieved one from the start every time i pay the £25 i always ask for a reciept but have only had one so i cant keep my records up to date but will phone them in the morning requesting all that i can so i know whats going off

I am slightly concerned that you are having to work so much overtime - and this suggests thatb your IVA budget was wrong from day one. This seems grossly unfair, as you are supposed to be able to manage your budget without referring to additional earnings - and therefore it is usually fair to expect to have to pay 50% of those earnings over, leaving you with 50% as a reward for your additional earnings, not as a supplement for an incorrect budget.

Can I urge you to seek an overall review of your income and expenditure with your IP - arrange to go and see them if necessary, but something is not quite right here. And do let us know how you get on.

can anybody think what else i can ask them for just to make sure i am not having the wool pulled over my eyes as they may think that we are that far in its too late to pull out first time i have used any forums for anything but this is realy helping thanks to everybody for there help

As Melanie says ask for a complete I&E review and ensure you record down everything as it is - if you have receipts to back this up all the better.
You have the right to a copy of the annual report as part of your IVA agreement - not sure I understand why you have to pay £25 for the review (unless I have mis-read this) - our IVA company complete the review as part of their admin costs / charges and no additional payments are made to them.
Our overtime clause is you ignore the first 10% of take home pay and then hand over 50% of the balance - leave you with the remaining 50% to spend as you so wish - an incentive to do a little extra - ours we use for a few weekends away each year in the tent !
Why ask for a face to face meeting so that you speak freely, also considering asking for copies of everything they hold on you under the Freedom of Information act if you have concerns that you are not being shown / given everything.

Best wishes

The only way you can 'pull out' of an IVA once it has started, is if it fails - i.e you don't make any payments for three months or if you take further credit without permission.

You cannot change IP's once in an IVA.

If you get no joy with your IP e-mail me and I will see if I know them. Between David Mond and I, we probably know most of the IPs who operate in the IVA marketplace, and I am sure one of us will know yours. Happy to have a quiet word if you feel that would help, and I am sure that David would concur with this as well.

A good start to assessing your current expenditure levels would be to get hold of a copy of the CCCS guidelines. If you e-mail me to my website we will send you a copy. These guidelines are used by most IPs and creditors in assessing appropriate levels of allowable expenditure.