will a student loan be impaired by an IVA

[t.w]

Hello there. If I can't get my debt problems stabilised in the near future, I may well be looking at an IVA. I have one question: my partner is about to go back to college to retrain (for a more lucrative career) - will her ability to get a student loan be impaired by an IVA? And would any bursaries be inevitably pulled into the IVA settlement (I'm assuming you have to declare all income of any sort to the IP).

[MelanieGiles]

Hi tw

Your current financial difficulties will not affect your partner being able to obtain a student loan.

Her bursaries will only be taken into account if you declare that you are living as partners rather than flatmates. If your relationship is fairly new, then I would quote the latter and that you share bills on a set percentage basis.

This is more difficult if you have lived as partners for some time - although I would argue that your partner's bursaries are paid to her directly to assist her funding her studies. You will need to consider how you are going to fund your household and living expenses, especially if she is giving up paid employment to return to full-time education.

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

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[Rainy day]

Thanks for your reply. We are long-term partners, with children, and the debt problems are collective. My partner will effectively be coming off maternity leave to go back to college (after having been in college part-time before the birth of our youngest), but this time to do a conversion course.

You are right that to point out the potential impact on income that this would have, and it's one reason why we're looking very carefully at our options at this point. if we can continue to stay on top of our debts, her course represents a long-term solution. If we feel we can't, then IVA may be they way we have to go - but her retraining would still represent a sound long-term course of action.

There are so many factors to consider! For instance, at present we run a small business and our income is variable from month to month - would this be problem when negotiating a IVA?

Many thanks for all your posts to this forum - it's proving an excellent source of information.