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Hi all, my daughter has secured her place at University and we have completed the forms for student finance, however because of what I earn she is only entitled to the lowest grant for living costs. She has to live in the halls as it's too far for her to travel home and her grant doesn't even cover her rent, so until she gets a part time job (if she can) I will have to supplement her living costs which I clearly can't afford. Can I speak to student finance and explain my IVA, would they take this into consideration and increase her grant? If not would I be able to reduce my payments to the IVA to take into account? Or because she's 18 will they not do anything! Thanks for any advice.

Hi, do talk to your IP about this in the first instance. My daughter is due to go to uni in September but I've no told student finance of this as I don't think they take IVA into consideration.

Hoping she can get a job, a lot of places should have work up until Christmas as my daughter needs one too. x

I am in the same position. Luckily my daughter has a part time job but still not enough to live on. I am making small sacrifices so I can help out a bit. Have you told your IP your child benefit has stopped for your child as they may be able to alter your i and e for this loss in income. Its worth about 50 pound per month.

I managed to successfully negotiate £200 per month allowance

stoneyB that is great, I do need to contact my IP as I've had a payrise this month so you never know I might be able to retain this to help my daughter out. x

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by stoneyB

I managed to successfully negotiate £200 per month allowance

And that right there is the inconsistency of IVA's that I don't understand. Don't get me wrong, Im pleased for you but I was told in no uncertain terms that supporting my boy through Uni was not permitted.

Thanks for your replies, however I know my child benefit has stopped but also my daughter will be leaving home so I actually thought that my payments will increase because I will supposedly be paying less on food etc. Is anyone here with GT who knows whether an allowance will be granted, £200 seems a lot to me and I understand that you , Braddders should be upset if you were told no, as you say very inconsistent.

I put forward the costs involved and what he needed. I argued that I needed to contribute as my son was not entitled to a grant becuase of my income however that income was not available to him because of the IVA. Grants are given by government for necessities, not luxuries therefore the money he was getting from me was equally necessary. I also asked for them to give me reasons why they couldn't agree it and they didn't have one! It took a while but I held out and got what I needed. Hope this helps.

Was this before they changed to the student loans system Stoney? I wouldnt have thought that your income would have any impact on your sons ability to get the loan...

I wasnt able to develop the conversation in my situation, my IP said that GT (representing Barclaycard) didnt recognise any contribution to kids beyond the age of 18 and wouldnt be prepared to change their criteria at all. It was accept the IVA on those terms or not at all.
I thought long and hard about it and took some advice from here and in the end accepted it, but with a heavy heart.

I wondered then whether my IP had battled hard enough on my behalf and will probably never know the answer to that. It may be of course that GT werent involved in your case (as the othere creditors didnt have an objection to my contributing) but then again, that adds to the point about inconsistency doesnt it?

Oh well, its done now...we just live with it.

This was three years ago. The main creditors were represented by TIX (?)

Maybe I should just contact GT direct and see what they say, as you rightly pointed out Stoney, the lower grant offered to my daughter is based on my income and it's not fair that she should suffer because of my failings as the extra income goes into my IVA and not to her. I'm actually disappointed that no-one from GT has replied to my thread.

Anything is possible here, so long as your IVA payments are not affected and you can demonstrate what the actual costs are, as well as the efforts your children are making to mitigate the costs themselves. It is unlikely to viewed very sympathetically by creditors, if someone is seeking a reduction in payments to fund their children's further education.

Sorry Melanie, I didn't quite understand your last post, did you mean it would be viewed unsympathetically or sympathetically by the creditors? My 2nd annual review is coming up in November would there be somewhere on the I&E that I could put some expenditure towards her living costs, in light of the loss of Child Benefit, at least until she manages to find a job?

I don't think that creditors would be too pleased to be bearing the cost of a child's further education at their expense. But if the increased expenditure could be borne from your existing budget, so tht your ability to fund your contractual payments to the IVA was not affected, then this is a matter for further discussion with your IP. If I were acting I may well allow some contribution, so long as there was effort from the child themselves to contribute from a part-time job.

Hi tarasue,

I would be happy to review your case and the impact this may have on your circumstances to determine options available. I would be grateful if you would contact Customer Services on 08448552166 or by email using the subject line "IVA Forum"

Kind Regards

Karol