What a relief!!! (I think!)

[e.h]

Hi everyone - hope you are all okay. Haven't been about for the last week - been off work sick. Just thought I would update you with news of our annual review, as you will know from my posts that I have been fretting and worrying about it for about six months!!!! We got a letter from our IP with a direct debit mandate form saying as our contribution was increasing it would be easier for us to have a direct debit than a standing order as then the amount could be changed without us having to do anything. I phoned our IP and asked them what the contribution was increasing to as we had not had any indication from them of this. The chap I spoke to said that this should have been notified in the same envelope as the direct debit form but it wasn't. Anyhow he said to me that our new contribution would be on our proposal!?! I asked him if he could just tell me what it is to be as I didn't have the proposal to hand and he said yes, from month 13 to 24 it will increase by £16, from month 25 to 36 by another £16 and so on. I couldn't believe what I was hearing!!!! I had a look at our proposal and it does say, 60 months' worth of contributions at £516. On the day of our creditors' meeting the rep from our IVA company phoned and said that all our creditors had asked was that the contribution increase by £16 per year. I didn't expect for them to keep to this amount though! I am utterly gobsmacked as both myself and my husband were expecting a huge increase in our contributions, fearing the worst etc. etc. as he got a promotion earlier this year and got quite a good payrise. (We have been sending them payslips every three months, so they are aware of the increase.) I keep waiting for the BUT .... from our IVA company, but so far, it hasn't happened and we have now completed and returned the direct debit form and are just waiting to see what will happen. Does this sound right?

Kind regards

Liz

PS - can't tell you how much I missed my daily fix of the forum.

[MelanieGiles]

Hi eh

I can't tell from your post whether you are happy or unhappy! The annual review ought to be a reappriasal of your financial situation, and is designed to see whether you can afford to increase payments.

Requests for staggared payment increases at the beginning of an IVA are a recipe for disaster as they bear no relation to how your situation may change over the years. If your situation has improved sufficiently to pay higher contributions, you have to be prepared for this and understand that this may happen from the outset. If you are now in the position where you could afford an increase of more than £16 but your IP is happy to keep it at that level, I can imagine that you may feel lucky, but are you doing the right thing by your creditors in keeping with the spirit of putting best feet forward.

Forgive me if I have misunderstood your post, but sometimes they are difficult to read if they are long and not paragraphed!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[e.h]

Hi Melanie - sorry for the non-paragraphing! You are right, it does make things difficult to understand. Yes, we are happy with the £16 per year increase but obviously neither of us feel that this can be right because of my husband's pay increase. We are waiting for the hammer to fall so to speak. The terms and conditions of our IVA do seem to be very different from those of other posters on this site. You may recall a previous post of mine wherein the value of our house now is what will be taken into account in year 4 and if I recall you said that this is something that PwC had in place but don't any longer. I have told my husband to expect the payments to increase by more than £16 per month because I am just not convinced that this is what should be required of us. Thanks

Liz

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Liz

As I have answered on your other post - expect your payments to increase to the current surplus income you are showing after taking account of your husband's payrise.

And don't forget to include all increased expenditure in that calculation as well. This is not just a one sided review but a rounded one!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[e.h]

Hi Melanie - this is precisely what I was trying to say in my initial post. Even though the IP has said that our new contribution is £16, will they then also increase the contribution to take into account my husband's payrise. We have not received any I&E forms or anything from our IP so we are thoroughly in the dark about this and as I said, I am waiting for the BUT.... and would rather be prepared for this to happen. Sorry if I am not making myself very clear and keep repeating myself. I just want to get this right. Thanks, Liz

[MelanieGiles]

Prepare yourself for the worst case scenario, and then anything better is a bonus!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[Adam Davies]

Hi e.h
At your annual review you should receive a new income and expenditure form and I think that once you fill this in your IP will adjust your payments to reflect your husbands promotion.
As Melanie says,prepare for the worse case scenario
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp