www.iva.co.uk

I am in the stages of setting up my iva. I have several debts with halifax. As soon as i decided this was the route to take, i changed my current account to santander. But they have just bought rbs out. Am i safe to stick as i am, or should i swap to co-op? They're probably the best option to go to.

Personally, I'd change to Co-op, just to be on the safe side.

Its hard to tell what effect various takeovers would have but to be safe,its probably worth switching to the co op.

Paul

Barclays are very helpfull they'll help you put money aside to pay for all your outgoings.

Barclaycard is one of my creditors too... Better not!

I went with the Nationwide as I believe they do not have any links with anyone else.

It can be particularly difficult sometimes finding who is not a linked creditor. Co op come up well on this forum. I'm with Yorkshire bank as my options were limited due to creditors. Do you have any debt with RBS?

I believe they have debt with Halifax which is part of RBS.

Debts are a halifax loan, halifax credit card, halifax overdraft, argos card, barclaycard and a catalogue account. I thought rbs were same bank as halifax?

I stand corrected - I've just googled them and Halifax is part of Bank of Scotland, not RBS so you should be able to stay where you are.

Hypo - it Bank of Scotland /Halifax - all now under Lloyd's Banking Group

I got my Scottish banks mixed up!!!!! Apologies.

Oh. Should be ok then. I thought rbs and hbos were connected. Thanks for clearing that up for me

This is a common mistake lots make and RBS and HBOS have no connection. It can be very confusing.

If you have a full current account with a high street bank and its not affiliated with your creditors I would advise keeping it and not moving to a basic account. I have a barclays full current account and a santander current account throughout my IVA and they have not once said anything about taking it away as a result of being in an IVA. A lot of banks, not all, but a lot kind of have the ethos that they won't let you open a new full current bank account once you're in an IVA but they will let you keep the one you already have if you go into an IVA. Strange I know but true.

I will also add that I panicked after learning that one of my creditors cahoot got taken over by Santander and I was worried they could offset funds from my account or cause me problems as a result. This was a couple of years into the IVA.

My IVA company advised me the offset rule will not apply as the IVA is already in force and all the money in the account for household bills etc has already been agreed by the creditor and therefore no offset would be possible. My santander bill account for the flat has continued to run smoothly and with no interference from santander despite them taking ownership of my loan account with cahoot.

I do not feel opening a basic account you have to pay the privilege of having when you already have a good enough account already is worth it in my opinion and it will save you money.