www.iva.co.uk

Hi,

Myself and partner have be offered an IVA with Baines and Ernest as we owe 22-23k don't own a house have 3 children partner self employed and i'm on a low wage so would have 196 a month for IVA payments but reading reviews they don't seem to be the best company to go with asny suggestions on a good practitioner?

Cheers

Carl.

Hi and welcome to the forum carl. It is always best to get a couple of opinions, I would if it were me and I know many will agree call Melanie. Read her reviews they speak for themselves.

Ang

I have to agree with Ang, call Melanie Giles. Theres lots of people on this forum who wish they had found her before starting the IVA process.

Hi Carl
Please d not go with them ,I have just placed a blog earlier , have been in tears today , they actually shouted at me and are very inconsidderate , I ask the lord everyday why I did not see this forum before I went into an IVA.

Hi Aguise
Can I move my IVA or am I stuck with the company I am at?

Hi Amanda,

If your IVA has been approved, changing your IP would be very difficult as it would need to be sanctioned by court. In practice this only usually happens when an IP retires or changes firms.

If you are unhappy with the service that you are receiving you could write to your IP in the first instance. They are probably not aware that people are receiving this treatment and would hopefully ensure that it stops. Good luck with this.

Kind regards,
Terry Balfour
IVA.com

Changing your IP would actually have to be sanctioned by creditors rather then the Court. Court Orders are generally only used when there are block transfers of cases - for instance when an IP retires or leaves a company.

As Terry says, it is unlikely that you would get the agreement of creditors to enable your case to be transferred. Are you having difficulties with the firm who are acting for you?

Hi
If you haven't signed the documents yet and they haven' had the creditors meeting you have time to make a considered choice.

Couple of things :-

1. If you are self employed then you need a specialist - not every IP is able or likes to do self employed. Even DFD send them elsewhere. It would also be a good idea to satisfy yourself and the IP that the business can actually make the payments so might be worth practicing the payments for a couple of months to make sure it works.

2. The IVA contribution of 196 is low so it is really on the edge and as we have said before it seems that the lower the payments the higher the fail rate might be.

Conclusion

Smaller firm specialising in Self employed and one that has a very hich acceptance rate.

Seems to me you should give Melanie a call.

Carl ... I would agree with Paul. As a self-employed person myself I would advise you not to rush into things ... I know that there is a tendency to want to get it sorted. However you do have to think longer term. Paul has a saying that I like ... "putting your ducks in a row" ... so before you sign anything take some further advice and make sure that the route you are going down is well thought out and is really the one you want to go down as there may be other options open to you [:)]

Good luck ... and keep us posted as to how you are getting on.

Debbie

Baines and Ernst do not actually do the IVA's they pass you over to another company of theres called Blair Endersby who coincidentally I am with and to be honest they are about as much use as a chocolate teapot so I would go with someone else. And in hindsight if I had found this website alot earlier I probably would of gone with someone else, probably Melanie

If you are self employed (unless you are an employee in everything but name)there are totally different criteria that need to be applied. For a start, under SIP 3 the IP or a senior representative of the IP should meet you face to face. Second, instead of supplying 3 months payslips you need fairly up to date accounts and, very importantly, realistic projections will need to be produced to demonstrate a realistic prospect of making the payments.So some work needs to be done (preferably in conjunction with an accountant if you have one).

Is your partner registered for VAT - is anything owed to HMRC for VAT or Tax?

As a general principle on your figure an IVA is potentially doable, but someone who is in business needs a bespoke proposal.

Ian

Do Blair Endersby actually do S/E IVA's Ian? Or do they sub-contract them elsewhere?