www.iva.co.uk

Hello
Looking at previous post of the Forum, I have noticed that lots of people still struggle financially even after entering in an IVA.
I know I am not going to be able to afford lavish holidays etc., but I was hoping/thought that it wouldn’t be as much as struggle every month as I am finding at the moment. I am only at the beginning of my process of applying for an IVA.
I know everyone’s situation is different, I currently have a food budget of 90 a week for a family of four (husband, me, 2 daughters 10 and 17) and that is a struggle then I have about £350 a month left over for petrol, clothes, dinner money and sundries incl. non-food items. A big chunk of this goes in petrol.
We cannot manage on the budget we have now, please tell me it gets better [:(]

hi slekckarke

On the whole the 5 year IVA journet is ok, with just like pre iva some months being better than others. What i kept telling myself if I was in a bad month, was that previoulsy pre-iva i would have spent heavily on my cards without giving any thought to how much i was spending, as i only ever paid the minimum payment !

Tips that I would pass on are things like buying household items , washing powder etc when they are on offer even of i didnt need them. also, I used to buy reduced chilled foods from the supermarket when it was reduced and freeze it, so that if I had a month where i ended up being a bit skint I could go rummage in the freezer & make tea without spending a penny. Also started buying pasta and throwing tuna etc in to make a meal, just like 25 years ago when i was a teenage student.

In summary some months are betetr than others, but if you can perhaps make savings on food/household etc in advance this may help.

Remember when your annual review is due to increase allowance sby inflation. If your fuel spend is more than in your I&E then raise this with your IP. This once happened to me 6 months after my review & they increased my IVA fuel allowance so that my monthly payment dropped slightly.

i know it may seem a way off , but post IVA the thriftyness forced upon you during your IVA will continue. I made my last payment 11 months ago, but still fill the freezer with food ive bought reduced and frozen ( currently were on M&S xmas food , bought dirt cheap on boxing day and frozen for a leter date )

hope this helps and i found things got better as time went on.

If you can't manage then have a chat with your supvervisor most will be reasonable it's in their interest in the long run, that the IVA runs to it's completion
And yes it really does get better

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

Hello
Looking at previous post of the Forum, I have noticed that lots of people still struggle financially even after entering in an IVA.
I know I am not going to be able to afford lavish holidays etc., but I was hoping/thought that it wouldn’t be as much as struggle every month as I am finding at the moment. I am only at the beginning of my process of applying for an IVA.
I know everyone’s situation is different, I currently have a food budget of 90 a week for a family of four (husband, me, 2 daughters 10 and 17) and that is a struggle then I have about £350 a month left over for petrol, clothes, dinner money and sundries incl. non-food items. A big chunk of this goes in petrol.
We cannot manage on the budget we have now, please tell me it gets better [:(]

That's quite a strict budget you have there. How much are you offering your creditors? p/£? Who is your IP?

Hello

I am currently still gathering my paperwork together so they can do a proposal. That is my current budget after I have paid all my creditors and bills. I am hoping that this will increase otherwise can not see 5 years of an IVA being a success.

My daughter starts high school in September and thats a whole new school uniform not to mention the year 6 school trip they go on that needs paying.

These are the extra things I am hoping by going down the IVA route I will have extra money at the end of the month to pay for.

At the moment my budget doesn't cover them.

Just more sleepless nights

Hi. If you complete your I & E accurately with what you actually spend/need, then you should find yourself in a better position than present. Please don't rush it though because 5 years is a long time and you need to get it right from the start. Things can be changed at a later date but then you always run the risk of having your term extended. Good luck x

Your household budget for 4 of you in an iva is around £500. Which is a little more than you are spending now, you can also claim a budget for school trips (although it isn't much) and clothing allowance is £70 a month for 4, I don't think it does get easier in an iva, after the initial sigh of relief that goes with an approved iva, the knuckling down and getting on wi life sticking to a fairly rigid budget can be a challenge at times as you don't have credit to fall back on when something goes wrong.

But you have to weigh it all up, what are your alternatives?

It does get better by the end, the start is alway long as you have no where to go for emergency money, and have to wait ages to get anything. Keep at it it will soon fly by

Remember that your disposable income (ie what you have available to pay to your creditors) is worked out after your expenditure allowances have been calculated not the other way round so as said above your budget for food etc will probably go up! I am sure once you go through the figures with your IP it will all make sense and I would expect you to have more money available. Good luck.

Sleclarke - for us things got easier. Finding virtual money from seemingly endless supplies of credit was an easy way out until we realised the interest repayments every month were ridiculous and it all came to a juddering halt.
It is easier in an IVA in terms of peace of mind and being rid of the spiralling dependancy on credit. Truly our outlook has transformed.
You in an IVA already or just looking at figures?

The biggest problem with an IVA and I have discovered this, is that they are not flexible in terms of all the economic woes and unforseeable issues that can come up. They leave you with a set amount and whether the economy collapses, food and all other prices rise, they give you very little opportunity to have this taken into consideration.

I started mine when lot's of things seemed rosey then after a year things changed and it's gotten tougher. 5 years I feel having been in an IVA for over 4 is far too long. I think 3 years would be more suitable for this situation IMO.

Choccy -- who are you with ? I must say, my finances having taken a battering since starting the IVA, my firm, dare I say, GT, have been great at accommodating my further fall in fortune.

I agree that 5 years is possibly too long. Three would make it closer to BR and offer no incentive for creditors to accept an IVA over BR though .. rock and a hard place time. Maybe they should at least consider making 5 the norm, without all these extensions and 72 month terms from the start.