www.iva.co.uk

I've spoken to step change recently who have suggested a IVA may be a good option for me and my husband. We have 2 cars, one on HP and the other PCP.

They state that it is a main bill therefore have taken their payment into cinsideration and there should be no ill effect but I've checked my Ts and Cs of both agreements, and 'a creditors meeting' is grounds for cancellation of agreement in their part.
I really want to think carefully before taking an IVA out as we need reliable cars, living rurally with a 50 mile round trip commute to work.
Anybody have any thoughts. Many thanks

Hi and welcome,

I suggest that you speak to some more companies before making a decision.

It maybe the car finance will cancel the agreement - some do some don't.

Have a chat with Andy Davie/Vincent Bond who post on here and they will give you some free advice and hopefully point you in the right direction.

Hi Hannah - at the end of the day if you enter an IVA it will be up to the Supervisor to agree whether the payments for the cars is a reasonable monthly expenses and the finance companies as to whether they will allow you to continue to pay the finance and keep the cars. Who are the finance agreements with? Maybe some other people on here will have the same experience and can let you know what happened with them...

Get some independent advice as well as speaking to Stepchange and go with who makes you feel most comfortable.

Listen to the advice given above and speak with other companies not just Step Change. When we started the IVA trail we spoke with CCCS (now Step Change), we had never heard of IVA's before and had never found this site so were completely in the dark. Looking back the agent from CCCS took full advantage of this and told us things which we now know were miss leading and intended to steer us into an IVA with only one company and not given any opportunity to discuss our position with any other company, ultimately the agent pocketed £850 for our getting an IVA with this specific company. These companies are a business like any other and need your business so do not be afraid to ask them lots of questions and only go with one that you feel comfortable with as you will be with them for up to 6 years....

Hi

We have found Stepschange fine throughout our IVA so far and you don't hear of any problems with them on this site. We had huge debts, one car on HP etc but glad we went with them. The re-mortgage stuff was sorted quickly and we are now in the 12 month extension. I know there are some great company's mentioned on this site but can't fault stepchange.

Make sure you talk to a few IP's recommended on here and make sure you go direct to them not via an agent, you should not have to pay anyone a fee to be pointed in an IVA Company.

I was with Stepchange (formally CCCS) and went direct no agents involved and helpful all the way through but if you do decide to go with them make sure you will be with them and not farmed off to Grant Thornton (or whatever they call themselves now.)

GT are now called Apeture - same poor service and at least 1 of their IP's has been fined this year for delays in closing IVA's.

Nothing wrong with Stepchange. They saw me through my IVA with no problems at all, though there are many independents here that have reservations about them! I have now been debt free for 16 months and can only sing their praises.