www.iva.co.uk

Hello, when contacting/hiring an Insolvency Practitioner about a possible IVA, do they have to be nearby to where I live? I've seen a couple I am keen on but they are in London and I live in Lancashire - does that matter?

No, you do not have to live close to them.

I personally would recommend one of the ones either at www.iva.com, or one of the posters on here, Melanie Giles for example as she does come very highly recommended.

Thanks, I'll look onto it.

Ian Millington and David Mond (who both post as experts on the forum)are both based near Lancashire if you prefer to use an IP nearer to you.

Thanks for all your replies, I'll contact someone about finding out what my options are.

Take care

CG

Thanks for the recommendation Melanie.

My pleasure.

if its easier for them to be near you can but im in london and my ips in wales and it was all good. good luck!

I'm in Lincs and my IP is in Wales never caused a problem for me in the slightest and emails give almost instantaneous replies especially from my IP and that is IP direct not someone in a call centre!

So, do I not have to attend the meeting that everyone talks about?

You would not be required to attend the creditors meeting, unless you wanted to. And whilst I advocate that a face to face meeting with your IP is enormously advantageous, and I do meet a lot of my clients personally, unless you are self-employed there is no statutory requirement to meet in person prior to proposing the IVA.

Most reputable IPs will discuss the IVA proposal with you over the telephone personally, and I would certainly use this as a criteria factor when you are selecting a firm to use.

I had no meeting with mine as they are a considerable distance away, but telephone contact was superb and everything was explained patiently to us and they made sure we understood exactly what our options were. They didn't try to push anything either.

That's great to hear, as I know that you are with one of the larger providers who often seem to get bad press.

Thanks for all your advice, my main creditor is Lloyds TSB as I have a loan with them and credit card - what are they like for IVA's?

They are fine - so long as no more than 75% of your overall debt is with them, in which case they would prefer to see a DMP.