www.iva.co.uk

Hi I've applied for iva if it's accepted I've decided that I'm going to try and cut my expenses and save £150 a month for emergencies like car breakdown etc. Am I allowed to do this or should the money go into my iva ? Would they allow me just to build up a savings pot?

You can save during an IVA -- but £150 a month might well be questioned and your allowances would be deemed to be too generous. However, the "Bank of under the mattress" is a possibility.

Agree with Foggy but also agree that it is a lot of money to be squirrelling away.

What would amount would you recommend ?

For me the allowances were set correctly - if we managed £30 a month it was a bonus.

luluj wrote:

For me the allowances were set correctly - if we managed £30 a month it was a bonus.

Yeah I guess I may be being a little ambitious with 150 a month!

Hi

Once your in the IVA it can be done if you can earn any extra as you get to keep 10% then 50% of any nett extra income if you have that clause. I was lucky enough to get a yearly bonus so in those sort of instances you can save whatever you can. It can make the whole thing a lot easier.

A single person receives allowances of £34 for clothes, £15 for sundries, £25 for medical,dental and optical plus around £20-30 for car repairs. These are not usually expenses incurred every month and could be saved for when actually needed. This is actually quite a prudent thing to do and should be encouraged.

Some IVA companies are more generous than others when it comes to agreed allowances and expenditure. I was allowed gym membership, sky tv, mobiles, newspapers, dentist, opticians, clothing, hairdressers, school uniforms and school trips etc. Obviously you dont buy these items on a monthly basis so you do have a real good chance to save. Sometimes a considerable amount. I never missed a payment. Always sent in my P60 and wage slips, and bank statements. My annual review was always fine with no monies owed. And my monthly payment remained the same throughtout. Even when i had a small payrise.

We saved what we could but due to the law of sod found things to spend any savings on.

Its a good habit to get into though.

ok, let the IVA get setup as its all about rules (which are there for bending), I'll elaborate in a sec..

Its important that the IVA is running, as once its running they don;t ask about bank accounts, and there is nothing to stop you from setting up a new savings account, as its universally agreed that its a good thing to have a rain day fund.

So, IVA is running, all calculations have been set, and not many people spot, but after rent / mortgage, food is a really big expense.. so thats your savings pot, here is how you roll it so you can squirrel cash away

Open a Sainsburys Bank savings account (Has to be them), then start shopping at Sainsbury, oh but they are expensive.. no they aren't, they are if you don;t follow closely..

Get used to own brand, noodles and all that jazz, you need to drop the food budget down, then the bank account has a feature called saveback (which is genius)

You have over your debit card, nectar card (obviously, points make prizes and all that), and your savings account card, and if you bill is like £50 less than it usually is by sticking to own brand, eating cheap stuff, getting stuff that is short on shelf life, then you saveback that.. come review time, your bank account shows only shopping at Sainsburys, where as you have an account that they never asked about and you never told about with a bunch of cash in there for a rainy day (You can access it via ant cashpoint as well.

Loopholes like that make IVA's a bit easier and the rules never got broken, but a little bit bent

Will you get a debit card if it is not a current account?

Otherwise you could open a couple of Co-op basic accounts and use one to put savings in.

There is no need to hide such accounts from your IP as how you spend your own money is your own business. We do not ask for bank statements from our clients after the IVA is approved and whether you shop in Sainsbury's or Lidl is none of our business.