www.iva.co.uk

My partner has decided to reclaim bank charges, presumably to be cleared against the IVA. His bank overdraft was included in the IVA and wasn't a huge amount. I wouldn't of thought this could be done as the creditors have written off a fair amount of the loan within the IVA. Please advise? Thanks

Hi, Reclamation of bank charges whilst in an IVA is not very clever, as I am sure it would be classed as windfall and if for any reason you had to ask to reduce payments for any reason beyond your control via a variation meeting they would not be keen to agree.

If your partner is successful he would either have to pay the money into the IVA as a windfall, or the creditor involved may reduce their claim rather than paying out the money.

Either way your partner won't get to keep the money.

Hello hara33,

The banks are not processing/paying claims currently as legal action is ongoing as to whether these types of charges are lawful or not.

Some companies are still taking an upfront fee to "help" people with such claims in spite of the legal uncertainty.

The Court of Appeal hearing is scheduled to make a decision in April or May on this - then there could be a wait whilst it goes to the House of Lords for a final determination.

If successful any claim would either reduce what a bank is owed in your IVA and if the claim is high enough be caught under windfall provisions.

It will be an interesting scenario as to whether all Supervisors in respect of all IVA's should submit claims on behalf of their debtor to either reduce the level of liability in respect of individual bank claims and enhance dividend prospects for other crediors. This might lead to earlier finalisation of some IVA's.

Maybe it would be a duty on Supervisors to do this in any event.

Watch this space.