www.iva.co.uk

Hi

Concerned on my annual review they have asked for a month bank statements that will show gambling transactions.

I pay £350 month into my IVA and for around the last 3 months have had a relapse so there will be a lot of transactions for example betting withdrawals of £200, £450 but then regamble £200, £50, £300.

If i explain I havent neccessarly won £450 - as I regambled £350 to explain that I dont have any excess money. When i gamble to much i borrow of family and then pay them off in subsequent months which i may have to explain

I dont think there is anything that says i cant gamble - i have to pay any winnings over £500

I am also going to join a gamcare to help deal with some of the gambling issues so can mention that

Obviously appreciate that i shouldn't be doing this - but what could they say could they then cancel my agreement as i shouldnt be doing these risks?
Has anyone got any experience on what they might say? I am with step change.

You should not have any money spare to be able to gamble and should not be borrowing off anyone else, not even family.

You are going to have to bite the bullet with this and you may end up with a problem with your IVA. Take yourself off all online betting.

Regardless of who you are with, they could fail your IVA unless you can sort your problem out.

StepChange do seem to be fairly 'laid back' so, hopefully, will take a sympathetic view, but, ultimately they could cancel the IVA for constant mis-use of funds. For instance, creditors have agreed to allow you, say, £300 per month for food and household items --- if you are spending, say, £200 a month of this on gambling, then they could rightfully reduce this allowance to the £100 you are actually spending on the agreed items and expect the 'spare' £200 to be added to your IVA payment each month. Most of us switch around the odd tenner here and there, but the amounts you are talking are a different matter.

Also, if gambling played a part in getting you into debt in the first place, still doing so could threaten the viability of the IVA if things are going south again. Creditors want to see you climbing out of debt, not digging further in. If you look at it from their point of view, you are gambling with their money and they will not be happy about that.

You have only fallen off this particular wagon for three months or so, hopefully, they will look on it more positively if they see that you have recognised the problem and are taking active steps to nip it in the bud.

Thanks both for your reply much appreciated.

Do you think it’s a real possibility either supervisor or creditor will fail my Iva? Or increase my payments substantially

Would your recommendation be to call the supervisor or wait/discuss in annual review

You must do as you see fit, Mike. In my opinion it would be better if you addressed the issue with the IP rather than him or her discovering it for themselves, so that you are in the lead.

Most IPs do not want to see an IVA fail -- it is of no benefit to anyone -- and will work to save the arrangement if they can and they are more likely to put the effort in if they see that you will too.

Best of luck.

Let us know how you get on.

Thanks both had a chat with the supervisory team - explained everything and they don’t think I have breached the agreement. So they say they can’t think of any reason why my Iva will be failed. They said just get all your annual review material in and take it from there. A bit of reassurance but appreciate this is only a phone call not a formal review. They suggested might need to be monitored more closely. I will post back when I’ve had my review as might be useful for others

Sounds positive - hopefully they (and you) will keep on top of things.

Sounds good --- good luck with it.