www.iva.co.uk

I submitted my I&E in December and have today received a letter from my IP company regarding payments for the coming year, the second year of my IVA.

The original agreement was for me to pay £420 a month which I managed for 5 months, but it was a struggle.

In June, my IP agreed to reduce monthly payments to £360 for a period of six months - £60 less per month than the originally agreed sum.

In August however, my mortgage payments went down which allowed me to pay an additional £100 per month. So, my monthly payments from August were actually £460 - £40 more per month than the originally agreed sum.

In December I started to get my paperwork together for the review. Like most people out there my salary has not gone up but almost everything else has. While I can maintain payments of £460 per month, finding an additional £60 simply is not possible. In addition to the cost of living having gone up, my company relocated to London in October and my travel costs have increased by an additional £80. I can't make any savings as I have no 'extras' - I don't smoke, or drink, or have Sky TV for example and every penny was accounted for in my I and E. I kept my IP company informed of my situation throughout the year and at the end of November they extended the £60 decrease for a further two months pending receipt of my I & E and the annual review.

I sent all the documentation to them early in December and as I am paying an additional £40 per month to the originally agreed figure, I thought my payments would remain at £460.

The letter I received today says otherwise however, it states:

" I note that you have completed and returned an income and expenditure summary however your payments
are due to be £520 as of 31 January 2011 and this summary must reflect your ability to maintain the payments at this agreed level. I have enclose a further summary for you to complete."

I have not had a payrise and have not come into any money ( nor am I likely too ) so I do not understand where I am meant to find an extra £60. Nor do I understand why, having returned my I&E showing where and how every penny is spent, I am being asked to resubmit this to fit in with a figure I cannot maintain.

I fully intend following this up with my IP company tomorrow, though it's always difficult contacting them during the working day as I'm in a communal office. Just wanted to post on the forum to let off steam and see if I'm being unreasonable or not understanding something.

Hi
The new payment will be the disposable income shown on your fresh income and expenditure form. They do not seem to have allowed for any additional expenditure, they have simply added the reduced mortgage payment onto your initially agreed payment.
What do you calculate your disposable income to be ?
Make sure you fight your corner
Regards

They do seem to be putting the cart before the horse here. Surely they revised payment should be the disposable income produced by your I&E, not that your I&E should be tailored to produce the figure they wish you to pay !

Why can't your payments be the original monthly figure you were paying. I understand that payments at review can change because of increase to wages etc., but if the expenditure has gone up anyway with travel etc., the mortgage reduction is already swallowed.

you def need to speak to them, sounds almost as though someone hasn't looked at it properly and only seen the difference as Andy mentions.

Hi, thanks for the replies....

my DI is £460 and that is cutting back wherever I can, there is no where else I can take it from.

My company have told us there will be a payrise soon however as they have just made 300 people redundant and only kept 20 of us on we have been told not to expect it to be a significant figure.

I will be contacting to my IP company but I wanted to make sure it was not me being greedy or missing the point.

did you take into account the increases in food and fuel costs with the vat etc., hope you get this sorted

Hi leaKybrain

My I&E took everything into account to the last penny hence I do not understand why I have been asked to fit my I&E to their figures

its not right. i really hope you get it sorted.

It is difficult to see where the increased figure of £520 is actually sourced from, presumably from information you provided to assist the IP with the review?

Rest assured that no IP wants their clients to be struggling with their payments, so a sensible chat with them ought to sort out any misunderstanding and to arrive at a figure that you can afford to pay.

Make sure you list every single penny u spend.
Even things like lunch money, school meals, house repair, even fags.
I I have an exhausted list accepted.

hi, thanks again for your replies.

I will be resubmitting the same I&E as i will not agree to pay something i do not have, no review has been done and i believe my emails have therfore been ignored which explained about my travel costs ets.

I will also have to see what other options are open to me as i cannot be going through this every year

will keep you informed

Make sure that you submit everything you are paying for, but not things you don't use such as cigarettes.

Which company are you using? I can't remember if you have mentioned previously or not.

Try speaking to your IP direct, this often helps.

I think you have to initially assume that there has been a miss understanding here. If your new income and expenditure submission shows clearly that you can only afford the £460 that you currently pay and your expenses are within the creditor guidelines, I can not see why any sensible IP would not be happy for you to continue making payments on this basis.

Have you been able to speak directly with your IP? If not you should make sure that you do so.

Badly trained staff have a lot to answer for!

hope they help properly this time, let us know how you get on