www.iva.co.uk

Hello,

I made my final payment to my IVA after 5 years in June last year (although I have still have not recived my final closure agreement after 8 months from making my final payment!) My IVA was agreed on a dept totalling £56,000, and every month for 5 years I have made repayments of £400. When I entered into my IVA agreement (5+ years ago) I did not have any assets bar my car (worth 4k) and I had always rented accommodation. I feel as though I was not advised correctly regarding the option for bankruptcy, and I remember being told by my IVA company, when discussing my options five years ago, that the IVA route (as compared with bankruptcy) would be a better option for me (although I have no proof of this conversation). I am not a Doctor or a Magistrate etc, so my question is, was the IVA route the best option for me, and if not, is there anything I can do about it?

Many thanks

Chris

Hi Chris,
it doesn't look to me like an IVA was the wrong solution for you, if you had opted for bankruptcy you would have almost certainly had to forfeit your car for a cheaper one, assuming you required a vehicle for getting to work you would have been allowed at a value of less than £2,000. You would also have had to make contributions in the bankruptcy for up to 3yrs, this would probably have been a similar amount to the £400 in your IVA.

So the IVA allowed you to pay an affordable amount for 60mths with the promise of debt freedom at the end, doesn't seem a bad arrangement to me.
You say you were advised that an IVA was the better option for you, did you not ask for reasons why this was so at the time?
You owed £56,000, you repaid £24,000, seems like you did ok from where I'm sat.
Now you can get on with your life, a little wiser & richer(on a monthly basis), enjoy it, don't get bitter.

Whether the IVA was the best route for you in hindsight is hardly relevant at this stage - you must have felt that it was to stick through the payments for five years.

What reasons are your IP firm giving you for not closing the case? Some firms have put a hold on closures due to an ongoing VAT issue, but I would get written confirmation from them of what is holding the process up - and confirmation that you have fully complied with your obligations to date.

To be fair it all depends on whether or not you think it was the right thing for you. Some people choose bankruptcy as its the only viable option based on affordability.
You have managed an IVA for 5 years and paid your creditors a decent cut of what you owed them so I would think you should be very proud of yourself for that.

Hi,

Well done for reaching the end, you should be proud of yourself.

Have to agree with the others, you have reached the end which is an achievement, if you had had concerns regarding if you had takien the right path or not perhaps it would have been better to bring it up at some point over the last five years?

Time to look forward to your future now, not back

Hi Chris and well done on getting through the IVA .... no mean feat in itself.

You had around half your debt written off (not taking into account the interest that would have accrued over the term, which would have probably been the same again), and you are free to start with a clean slate. Can't be bad.

I am curious, however, as to what has popped this bee into your bonnet. Have you been approached by a company claiming mis-selling?

It appears to me that the IVA was the right decision for you - as others have said bankruptcy may have led to loss of vehicle etc.

You have now reached the end of your journey and once the completion statement is received you will be able to really move forwards.

I would chase the certificate each week now - 8 months in too long and very unfair.