www.iva.co.uk

I am currently in an IVA, as a result of this I now only have 1 basic bank account. I would like to open another basic bank account in order to try and save money each month no matter how small by depositing into that and cutting up my card so that I am unable to draw out. Do I have to disclose this account?

Hi and welcome,

There is nothing stopping your from opening up another basic account - some people do it to put their allowances or anything they can save into there.

Hello! Welcome aboard. You don't need to declare it. Anything you manage to save is yours to do with as you please, so it's sensible to put it somewhere you know is safe. I have an ISA into which I put my own savings.

If you have transfers in and possibly out of it from your main account at annual review time, then like as not your I.P. will query it, but as the others have said, any savings that you make from your own budget are yours to do whatever you want with and will not need to be paid over.

Be aware, and this is the cynic in me, that an I.P. may want to see a statement. Some people have been known to open a second account for second jobs, tax rebates, windfalls etc which they then forget to disclose. That is not an option I would recommend to anyone.

Regards.

I agree with Mike. It does no harm to let your IP know as you have nothing to hide. Your IP should have no interest in this account as it is actually advisable to have a separate account for contingencies etc.

I have a savings account and always have to send a statement for this at review time.

To date never had to send bank statements for anything but from I understand that may change.

Consider opening a credit union account if there is one close to you.

Thanks for all the replies. Another reason for me wanting to open the second account is for my parents who will be sending me a little money every month from abroad to help my saving for a while and for emergency funds and I don't want my iva payments to increase because my incoming money has increased. Do I need to declare this account and if I don't can my IP find out if I don't? I'm struggling to make ends meet as it is. I haven't left my house in months because I can't afford to. It costs you money just stepping out your front door in London and I don't like going to friends empty handed and feeling like I'm just taking. I'm going stir crazy.

If you are getting help from your parents to live then your payments may be too high so you could ask for a 15% reduction which would help. If you open a new bank account for savings purposes I do not see any obligation to notify your IP and if your parents are helping you get by then that is their business. This money is not guaranteed anyway and personally I would be more concerned about why your parents were having to do this and would seriously look at your payments.

Well I live alone so am solely responsible for everything in my life. They went through my salary amount allocating all amounts to bills, rent, mobile, council tax, travel,household food and cleaning goods. Then I was advised that I'm allowed 10 a month to do my hair, 12 for contingency allowance, I think like 20 for clothes cosmetics etc. Everything is allocated according to what I need each month to live. This does not include anything off essential monthly budget except for a few pounds coz I don't need hair or clothes every month. What is left over is my iva amount which is basically 19% of my monthly salary. Everything else is allocated. So I can't spend a penny beyond what's listed in my budget. I was really thorough about my essential outgoings to survive (home, food, travel) which now appears not to include living. I didn't think it would be so hard. Now I'm wishing I hadn't gone this route and it's too late. I've done nothing this month except pay out my budget and I have 50 left till month end and I'm not sure I can do this for another 5 years. just feeling really trapped I guess and don't want to have to rely on my parents like this. I've always been really good with my finances but then my sister died and things got away from me and three years later I was drowning in debt. I thought this was the best option now I'm not so sure. ..

Hi,

You do not have to be tied into your IVA if things are that bad. You can let it fail and go bankrupt. You may end up having to pay an income payment arrangement for three years but this is only if your DI is £20 a month after everything else is paid.

Speak to your IP initially to see if they can lower your payments.

00hoopz00 - we understand it can be hard and some months can be worse than others (it has been for us this month).

Once you get into the swing of it you find ways of coping but I cannot deny that it can be lonely and isolating.

Thank you everyone for your responses

00hoopz000

Cashplus do a pre-load MasterCard that comes with a sort code and bank account number, it has no crdit facility so is not on your credit file. you can pay cash into this at any post office and people can transfer funds to this. There was an offer on it for no annual or transaction fees, have a google and see if its still available.

There was a point when some on this forum were discussing a certain firm who were getting funny about savings.

If you do your shopping each week and have £5 left and deposit it into said account that is no different than putting it in a box under the bed (more secure though). I would personally just not do any electronic transactions to/from the account and your account that you have to submit for review as not to draw attention to it. One shouldn't have to think like this but if some firms are getting excited about your hard earned savings why even bother drawing attention to it, in my personal opinion.

Alternatively you could ask your folks to sign up for such an account for you and give your the details and the card and you use it, there are no branches everything is online.

I use this as my main MasterCard account now so I can do transactions online that are not linked to my debit coop cashminder account, I have been very happy with it.

I had 2 cashminder accounts from cooperative bank while I was in my iva and I still have them.