www.iva.co.uk

I have a question. If I was to get a substantial payrise and bonus each year, how much of it wouldd I have to pay into the IVA each month? Do I have to give it all?

Hi,

With a bonus, you are usually allowed to keep the first 10% over and above your normal take home pay, and then 50% of the rest.

Your payrise would need to be discussed with your IP as your outgoings may also have gone up and it would depend on that as to how much you paid across.

Myself and hubby didn't have to pay any of ours across last year.

Depending upon the terms of your actual proposal, you will generally be allowed to keep 10% of your basic monthly salary against the bonus, and the remainder would be shared on a 50/50 basis between yourself and creditors.

For example - if you take home £2,000 per month, and recieve a £1,000 bonus, you would retain the first £200 (10% of take home pay) and then the difference would be split 50/50 - so you would actually keep £600 and creditors would get £400.

With a payrise, this is reviewed annually at which time you will also need to review your expenditure as well - as things do go up in that area too. If there is an increase in your overall disposable income at that time, expect your ongoing contributions to be increased by 50% of the uplift.

I am potentially due to be promoted when I return which would at least be a rise of £350 a month as you get a car allowance of this much. Also my husband gets two payrises a year and also has the potential to get promoted quite shortly, is it just a case for the creditors to just get more and more each month until they hope to get the full 100% of the debt back?

You would have to pay some of that across.

Remember that you will owe the full amount until the IVA is concluded. If you can manage to pay back 100% to your creditors, then that is great.

It may be that your IVA can conclude earlier if you can manage to pay back the full amount.

Thank you, hopefully they will get a good deal out of us if they choose to accept it that is. Fingers crossed and everything else crossed that we get it. If they don't they won't get much cos I would loose my job in bankruptcy. Another question, as part of my job I have organise events for my company and have to put through quite a bit of expenses, just before I went on maternity leave the company put on a rule that expenses should be done through a company credit card and not your personal card or account. Will I be allowed a company Amex, I doubt it, what do I do in that case as I won't be able to fund the initial purchases on my very small and limited current account until I can claim it back. Will I have to explain to my boss about my, which I would rather not do if I can help it and use her card?

If it is a company credit card and they are responsible for the bills, then that isn't a problem. You should be allowed that.

I am sure that your IVA will be approved. We don't read of many on here which are rejected.

There will be no problem getting a company Amex card, as it is not you incurring the credit but the company - so there will be no need to credit check you.

so if i got a decent payrise say £4,000 so the annual review they wouldnt take all of it just 50%. This has always been a bit of a worry for me,i would like to pay my creditors of course but i dont want to get a new job, work more hours and have more responsibility for all my payrise to be taken .

I have a corporate Visa card for work - this does not affect mt IVA at all, the card is in my companies name and they pay it once a month - all i have to provide are the receipts

They may very well take a good portion of your rise, but don't forget that expenses go up as well.

If you were able to repay 100p in the pound because of this, then your IVA will conclude early, and you would be able to enjoy all of your money.

As ever the answer lies within the IVA proposal, so dig a copy out or contact your IP for absolute clarification.

Melanie, can I just say you really work hard on this website, you are very dedicated to helping people, it's fantastic, you must have a real passion for trying to help people that are really in need of some desperate advice. I started last year to train as a counsellor and would like to continue with this, are there any places that people can go to to get counselling when they are going through situations like this, ie emotional support rather than financial advice?

There is the Samaritans. I don't know of any other advice centres offhand.

There should be something. There is relate for relationship problems, bliss for parents with sick and premature babies and loads of others but doesn't seem to be anything dedicated to people going through this and it must tear families apart. I suppose samaritans or relate would be the best ones.