www.iva.co.uk

Happy New Year All XX
Feeling lost again after 2 months of IVA.
First payment November 10th, second payment Dec 1st cancelled 3rd payment with intention of resuming Feb 1st (informed account manager of intention).
Husbands car tax October 31st, Mine December 31st, Emergency dental work £80 in December then ran out of money need another £150- £200 in January and in pain now. Vet bill December £110. Need plumber after December freeze radiator and bath leaking. I called account manager explained situation said we need the £528 this month then we can get back on track. Was told we should have saved and budgeted for these eventualities. Explained that we hadn't in past and that was why we were now in IVA surely if we were savers and budgeters we wouldn't be in this situation. We can manage on the allowances given BUT WE HAVEN'T had a year of putting away allowances and building up contingency.
So account manager has increased our payments by £80 / month for next six months to make up for the missed one. Our allowances work but are EXTREMELY tight. We are not gaining £528 this month because its already allocated and I don't see how we will manage the extra £80 / month for six months. If we could do it we would have offered it in the first place.
Account manager quick to point out our generous allowances me quick to point out that our allowances are way off and do not represent our monthly outgoings, they represent exactly half of what we were paying to our creditors when we started the IVA process and they have been made to fit. Example we have a pet allowance of £65/month which seems alot. But it is listed for our 3 dogs only. We keep a variety of animals including 3 ponies but they were not included from the outgoings. Our phone bill IS £99/month we have £30 allowance.
We were happy with arrangement at the time because we had not defaulted anywhere before starting the IVA process and we had managed just with no spare cash ever so paying half the amount we had been and clearing the debt was a good deal. With hindsight didn't realise how the flexibility of using credit was getting us through each month - even though we were only making minimum payments everywhere so getting nowhere !
Maybe should have defaulted and built up cash for more months before starting IVA ?
Anyway have accepted 6 month offer because we want the IVA to work but not sure if this can work out.
If anyone has any ideas, advice we would be most grateful. Is it me or does anyone else think sounds like a possibility of BR - just don't want to go that route because don't want to lose house.
We needed a break right now not an increase in monthly payments and its all poo really !!
Like I said Happy New Year X

Hi there Shellmat,

I'm sorry to hear you're having a tough time - this is typical of how an IVA not realistically set up can cause problems. I imagine you agreed to the allowances as you wanted the IVA to be agreed?

If you were to list your income and expenditure truthfully, ould you have anywhere near the monthly payments left for your IVA? It is so important that what you actually spend is reflected in your allowances, on the same hand you have to learn to budget, which is not easy at first.

You certainly need to get insurances in place for pets, boiler care etc...these are allowed in an IVA and will take the pressure off when things go wrong - bit late for you at the moment, but something to consider in the future.

It seems your IP has been reasonable, as you're in the very early stahes of the IVA and they've allowed missed payments. The fault seems to lie in the allowances being too tight to start with.

Again, I suggest you revise your whole income & expenditure and decide if the IVA is actually viable for the next 5 years.

BR is an option, but is by no means an easy route to take. Would your job be affected or any future career plans? If there is equity in your property then it maybe at risk.

Address your IVA problems first before worrying about the ins and outs of BR. We're all here to help and support.

xx

It might be difficult to keep 3 ponies if you were to go BR too. But whatever route you take then the onus is to budget & hopefully if you can build up a contingency you can start to put 30 pound a month away say to cover car tax for next year & whatever your allowance was for dentistry.

awww shellmat
sorry its causing you stress at the moment hunny
take julies advice and do a new income and expenditure with your ip. the iva is designed to let you get back on with your life not hinder it.
please keep posting and let us know youre ok xx [:o)]

Hi Julie, RHB and Flumpy
Thanks for replies. I am feeling fairly desperate but all the reasons we decided on IVA still stand and I don't want to lose the ponies or the house and I do want to repay my creditors.
Julie I am reassurred to hear that you feel IP is being fair that is positive to hear when I was feeling very down about everything.
Budgeting is the key and Hubby and I have been looking at the I&E again today I think if we can get through Jan and Feb and the recent high expenditures that we didn't have time to budget for we can still do it. We made it through the last two weeks of Dec spending nothing hanging on to the Vet money (kids farmed out for Xmas).
Thanks for your support it REALLY does help - I need to calm down and get on with it - its great to have you all.
Shell x

Shell,

Its a learning curve hun and you'll get there...with a little bit of help from your forum friends [:)]

To me ponies are pets and you should be allowed to keep them as much as someone can have dog, cats etc. I bet they bring you great joy!

Its great you and hubby are working through this together - this time of year is always difficult without the added expenses you've had. You've got through it so you're obvioulsy doing something right. Well done!

xx

Hi
The early days can sometimes be the most difficult, try to get through it the best that you can.
Is it possible for you to cut back on some expenss, phone for example ?
You really should have an allowance for all your pets, the trouble is that your IP will be reluctant to go back to your creditors so early into your IVA asking for a payment reduction.
Maybe a complete one month break allowing you to get on top of things will be a better solution followed by a reduction in your payments at your anniversery
Regards

If you're struggling it seems very unfair to increase your payments by £80 a month - would it be possible for you to tag the missed payment onto the end of the IVA rather than have to make increased payments?

Thank you Andy and Skippy
I asked account manager for both of your suggestions and was told that creditors would not agree to either a payment break or an extra month at end because it is so early into IVA - hence the increase to cover missed payment.
This does seem short sighted as with continuation of the IVA we should be able to build contingency and I would have thought creditors would see that a break now or extension is more likely to see the IVA succeed rather than making an increase now - but apparently not.
Do you think I should talk to account manager again - We went round in circles last time and I don't want to beat my head against that brick wall again unless those two options are really possible. The prospect of this £80 increase for next 6 months is extremely stressful and could be the un-doing of our IVA.
Should I go directly to my IP rather than through the account manager - don't want to upset anyone more than I have to.
Thanks Shellmat.

If you didn't get anywhere with your account manager it would be worth speaking to your IP directly. If you can build up a contingency over this time it could prevent this from happening again. If you are told that you cannot speak to them you can find their email address on the Insolvency Service website - http://www.insolvency-service.co.uk/newipsearch.htm

Totally agree Shell.

If you email your IP directly then you might be able to get something done.

Your IP can authorise a one month payment break without reversion to creditors, and asking you to pay an extra £80 per month to cover arrears when you are already struggling due to an unrealistic budget is ludicrous. No wonder so many IVAs fail, but out of interest did you express concerns to your IP about your expenditure allowances before the IVA was presented?

Hi
Tagging on missed payments to the existing amount paid always seems ludicrous to me if the client does not earn extra via overtime. How can someone who already pays 100% of disposable income over pay anymore ?
Go direct to your IP rather than case manager
Regards

I agree Andy, if someone has problems early into their IVA the chances are they won't have been able to accrue any contingency, so asking them to make cutbacks to make up a missed payment isn't helping anyone.

Good luck speaking to your IP Shellmat, let us know how you get on x

I hope you get things sorted Shellmat.