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Hi I am just being made redundant what can I do if I cannot get a job earning the same money I am on now?

My IVA payments are 25p/£

Scooby

Is bankruptcy the only option?
How likely is it of losing my house?

Scooby

Hi Scooby, I'm sorry to hear you are being made redundant. All I can really suggest is you speak to your IP straight away. They may be able to arrange a variation meeting or a payment holiday while you are looking for another job.

Good luck.

Three down, fifty seven to go until freedom!

Hello Scooby,

I’m sorry to hear of your situation, I agree with Skippy13 that right now the best thing to do is contact your I.P as soon as possible.

There is no point worrying about bankruptcy or loosing your property until you discuss this over with your I.P. They know the history of your case and are therefore the best ones to give advice.

All the best.


Hope this information is of use

Regards. IVA Experts

Hi Skippy I know but are they likely to make me bankrupt if I cannot get a job for the same ammount I am currently on?

And have a guess where my wife works?

Yes here at the same place as me!!!

Scooby

I don't know a great deal about this, but if your next job is on less money your creditors may agree to extend the IVA to make up the shortfall. Remember, it's in their best interests that you are no made bankrupt as they will get more money from an IVA.

What is happening with your wife's job?

Three down, fifty seven to go until freedom!

Good advice from the others. I would agree that you should contact your IP ASAP and see if you can arrange a break in payments. Your creditors would have to agree to this but as this is not your fault there is every chance they might.

Whether or not you will be able to retain your house in bankruptcy would be down to the amount of equity you have in it. If you have little or no equity you may be able to buy the house back from the court for a nominal fee (plus legal costs).



Best Regards
Oliver

Thomas Charles and Co Ltd.
Experts in personal debt solutions.
Read customer feedback at: www.thomascharles.com/about_us.asp

Scooby

If you are made redundant from your job, as has already rightly been pointed out, the first thing you must do is let your IP know. Its is likely that they will be able to suspend your monthly IVA payments and give you a payment holiday. This will give you a breathing space while you find a new job. Generally your IP will be able to give you up to 2-3 months break without a great problem.

Once you get a new job, there are three scenarios:

1 – You find a new job on the same money
This is the ideal scenario. It means that you should be able to start making the same IVA payments again without a problem. All that happens is that the months you have missed will be added to the end of your IVA. In effect, you will make the same number of IVA payments but the ones you missed in the middle will be added to the end.

2 – you find a new job but with less money
If this happens, then the only way you are likely to be able to continue with your IVA is if your payments are reduced. To achieve this, your IP will have to propose a variation of your IVA to your creditors. As long as the variation and reasons for it are reasonable, then very often the creditors will accept the change even if this means that their dividend is reduced. They may of course ask for some additional payments to be added onto the end of your IVA to compensate.

3 – You find a new job on more money
If this happens, then you will be able to restart your IVA payments, but you might be asked to increase them. You will not necessarily be asked to hand over the whole of the increase. The additional amount you pay will depend on other factors such as whether as a result of the new job, your have any additional monthly expenses (eg additional travel costs).

What happens if you can not find a new job at all?
If you are made redundant and just can not find alternative work, or loose your job through medical reasons preventing you form working again, then payments to your IVA will clearly have to stop. What happens next will very much depend on your financial situation and how long you have been in your IVA.

For example, if you are given a lump sum as a redundancy package, your IP may well be able to negotiate a full and final settlement of your IVA using some or all of the lump sum. If you do not receive a lump sum but have already paid a significant number of your IVA payments, your IP may be able to agree with your Creditors that the IVA should be settled early based on what you have paid to date as they are unlikely to ever receive any additional payments.

The worst case scenario is that you can not find new employment, you have no lump sum and your creditors will not agree to settle early. In this situation, unfortunately it is likely that your IVA will fail. You amount you owe will then revert to the original sum outstanding before the IVA was introduced. At this point, your IP may decide to declare you bankrupt. If not, you will need to decide whether you want to do this yourself or consider a Debt Management Plan.

James Falla

Expert in IVA, Bankruptcy and informal Debt Management solutions, with extensive experience of solving personal debt problems over the past 10 years. I am regularly featured on BBC News, Finance Programs and Radio.

Visit my blog at: http://jamesfalla.blogs.iva.co.uk

scooby so sorry to hear about the redundancy hope things pick up for you and you and the wife find new jobs soon
kerri

Good advice from James - an IP can usually agree to a discretionary a 2-3 months payment break (providing you are already up to date with your payments). Any longer would need to be formally agreed with the creditors - but this is also possible by a formal variation of proceedings.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.
View my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

Hi yes I agree with what you are all saying it is probable I can get another job but it is more than likely on less money but because I am already paying the lowest return in an IVA is it likely the creditors will accept variations on the IVA? or will they just say we cannot accept less so off to bankruptcy court for you me laddo?

We have probably 5-10K in equity in house

Scooby

Also I have only made 3 payments to my IVA will this have any bearing on the situation?

Scooby

Scooby

In the world of IVA's anything is possible. Some of the creditors will have already sold their debts off to collection companies who are only looking to make a profit on their purchase, so their dividend expectations are lower than the norm.

It really depends upon how long you have already been in your IVA and how much has been paid over to the Supervisor - I see in your case only 3 months. You have more chance of getting lower payments accepted the longer you have been in the arrangement. Assuming that your property equity may not have been included within the original IVA, then perhaps you could offer a back-end equity release to compensate the creditors for lower payments.

Hope this helps - and put your worries about the IVA on hold while you concentrate on finding a new job. Ever thought about becoming a debt advisor???

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.
View my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

why you offering??
lol

Scooby

Thanks Kerri probably get another job quite easily just not as muck as on now so who knows what will now happen but whats the worst that can happen lose house its only a house.
Probably not a bad thing if went bankrupt get rid of all debt in one go and end up paying back less.

Scooby