www.iva.co.uk

Also does anyone know how much the minimum payment can be we have 5 children both work but are struggling, are rent and council tax is £1000 a month and food £800 a month, and thats just a start, although we both work and probably have a combined income of £3000 a month can things like school trips go on the review, they have said we need to put are payments up as at the moment they have been reduced to £700 a month but we struggle with it at this, i have asked to re-do the review as myhusband di it in my absence and i know he missed quite a lot of, also do they allow children hobbies such as after school activity's like my son has riding lessons and my daughter plays football in a league twice a week and obviouslyhave to pay for these and there school bus pass?

Thankyou.xx

If you are talking about the minimum payment in order to get an IVA accepted, then there is no minimum payment - the payments are worked on on your disposable income after providing for all necessary expenditure.

Under an IVA the maximum you would probably be allowed for food would be £708 - so if you are genuinely spending £800 you may need to look at your shopping habits to see if some economies could be made.

Your post suggests that you are already in an IVA - is this correct? In which case you should have a sports, hobbies and entertainments allowance of £76 per month to cover this sort of thing - and the school bus pass should also be taken into account as an exceptional item.

Which IP firm are you with?

Thank you for your reply, we have approx 2 years and a couple of months to run on our IVA, i have emailed them so waiting for a reply with bated breathe!! We have also had to move house this year which so hasn't helped our position, i suppose the food bill is high but 5 kids who i just cant bring myself to feed nuggets and chips to, also how do we stand with pets are you allowed to add animals we have 2 sheep 2 dogs and a pony, though the pony doesn't actually cost much as hardy fellow who only gets hay in the winter and he is kept for free at a mates farm, its so hard and depressing being broke constantly, and i'd really like to ask for a payment break for xmas but to scared to ask,i think they want us to make an appointment but i've emailed as last time we went i ended up crying and looked a right fool!! The maintenance i was receiving monthly when we we entered the IVA but my ex stopped paying and left the country so not likely to get that again, we left us £380 a month short, i let you know what they say if they answer.x

Ps with Gerald Edelman ashford Kent

Hi,

You are allowed pets, I have two dogs myself. Don't know about the sheep though - not heard of anyone having those as pets before!

You won't be allowed to take a payment break solely for Christmas. I'm afraid that and birtdays must be saved for out of other allowances.

You do need to speak to them to sort this out.

Comoy.....2 x sheep as pets....sorry had to chuckle.....good on ya!

Mind you much more quiet then my Cavaliers. Hope you have a decent hoover for the hairs!

Ha-ha suppose is a bit odd, its because before being flat broke we had a bit of land and acquired a lamb at 5 days old which kids bottle fed, and then she went to the ram and had a daughter, may have to eat them at this rate won't be able to afford a turkey! Have to save for christmas out of what, last time was able to save i lived with my mum and had a paperround!! Life is crap hope they don't have IVA's in heaven!!

You should be allowed money towards your pets. Pets are members of the family, and important parts of your lives, and this should be taken into consideration.

I suggest that you put forward a revised income and expenditure account based upon what you actually spend, and see what the IP has to say about this. If it means that you can no longer afford the IVA, is it really worth having another miserable two years? And remind your IP that they should be using either the CCCS or CFS guidelines when reviewing your case.