www.iva.co.uk

My IVA is almost 3 years old.

Can anyone advice what is acceptable as an amount for food and clothing for 2 adults - the amount originally agreed we are doing but our clothes have holes REALLY we are sewing although we cant sew have repairedeven glued trousers etc and things again and again and feel a real mess. Even a haircut there's just not the money so we cut each others hair and feel really low because we dont wear designer or anything but feel like Charles Dickens and have done so for a couple of years now, ok its out fault we are in the iva and we will see it to the end no matter what but surely there is a set amount minimum to live reasonably for the following?

any advice on the amount for 1) food 2) essentials - soap, shampoo, toothpaste etc 3)clothing - especially in the absence of a warm coat for my husband despite buying from numerous charity shops and that is not a joke by any means and having boots with walked off soles - really this is not made up

thanks

This should really not be happening
How much are you being allowed for Houekeeping and clothes?
You should be able to live reasonably in an IVA

that is just madness, you cant keep that up. I know that in most jobs you are expected to look reasonably tidy too, I know I am and they even bring in people to talk about the way you present yourself. I think we would get £60 a month for two adults and two children for clothing which will never be enough, will have to top it up by selling the old kids clothes on ebay.

That seems very low Wonder, you're doing really well to manage x

Well we have only begun iva and we had loads of clothes bought before we went into it so we dont need a lot at the moment. My hubby thought certain things were ok so excepted this amount though he got higher amounts for other things. we will have a review and add things. this time I will check not hubby.

I put all the expenditure down on the form and nothing was changed. The IVA is working absolutely fantastic and the overall budget suits our circumstances.

Hi
The top clothing allowance for two people is £44 and food/Toiletries £313
Regards

Is that the CCCS guidelines Andy? That seems very low when you compare it to the OR's guidelines...

I beleive they are a lot lower than OR guidelines. When I looked at BR my Di was a £1 but with IVA was £380. BR would effect my work but I am more than happy with the IVA arrangement.

With the differences I can see why people would think that BR is the easy option (it's not!) - I sometimes struggle with my allowances, so I know I wouldn't have been able to manage on IVA allowances.

Hi
Yes these are CCCS guidelines, this is the problem between IVA and Bankruptcy. You have better allowances in bankruptcy and the maximum that you pay is 70% of DI over three years, in an IVA you have harsher allowances and you pay 100% of DI for 5 years.
Surely the allowances should be the same ?

Regards

I agree Andy. Would you increase IVA allowance, decrease BR allowances or meet somewhere in the middle?

The thing is no one tells you how much you are allowed for things on an iva. If we put down what we normally would spend then there would be no money left as we used to buy things on credit. So we have to stick to certain guide lines and just budget better. i must say This month things dont look so bad, i think the first month i panicked and thought we wouldnt cope but so far we have and we have eaten very well and got clothes too.

I think if we had gone BR then we probably would not have had to pay anything over. we also have no assetts of any value. What would have happened though is that I would not have been able to progress on the career front and I am sure I would have lost a lot more in the long run. I know I mentioned about eating beans on toast if it would get us through the IVA but in fact we have beans on toast far less than we have for a long time. So it seems to be working fine. If we get a nasty expense come up then hopefully we will be able to arrange a payment break which seems to be accepted a lot.

Why didn't your IP discuss this with you Wonder? It is vital that you be provided with sufficient money to cover your families needs - and the starting point should have been telling the IP firm what you spend. Was it a case that your IVA would only work at a certain figure, so you had to tailor your expenditure to suit?

I must admit I remember reading your earlier posts where it was clear that you were not happy with the budget, but hearing that you have had a good month this month is encouraging. Creditors are never going to allow you to eat smoked salmon and drink champagne every evening, but you do need to be left with a comfortable standard of living.