New to IVA and forum

[kitty14]

Update:

Happy with NatWest now everything is sorted.
Finally got my chair report back today and seeing it was 100% voted for is amazing.
I start my first payment of £90 in February (23.91p to the £) Here goes to the next 5-6 years thank you so much everyone.

[kallis3]

Great news Kitty - really pleased for you.

[Foggy]

Excellent --- now we are cooking on gas !

[kitty14]

Hello again,

I have some questions now this is up and running.

I initiated a gas and electric switch back in December it has now completed from EDF to British Gas for dual fuel. I shouldn’t run into any issues as this is direct debt. I mean it has set up fine.
I just don’t want any nasty surprises, so far I have encountered that my local council decided to write off my remaining council tax of £200 odd due to “bankruptcy” I was fine paying the monthly so quite annoyed that has happened.

Also does this mean I can no longer keep switching things like my gas and electric? And my phone bill? I pay direct debit for a sim only deal with o2 which I usually change when there’s better deals.

Thanks in advance I never really thought about all these minor things d’oh!

[Foggy]

Hello again,

I have some questions now this is up and running.

I initiated a gas and electric switch back in December it has now completed from EDF to British Gas for dual fuel. I shouldn’t run into any issues as this is direct debt. I mean it has set up fine.
I just don’t want any nasty surprises, so far I have encountered that my local council decided to write off my remaining council tax of £200 odd due to “bankruptcy” I was fine paying the monthly so quite annoyed that has happened.

Also does this mean I can no longer keep switching things like my gas and electric? And my phone bill? I pay direct debit for a sim only deal with o2 which I usually change when there’s better deals.

Thanks in advance I never really thought about all these minor things d’oh!

Some councils write off as a matter of course ( mine does) as it is cheaper to do this than fiddle about with dividends. It is only in recent years that CT has been dragged in at all.

Account / utilities switching can be an issue if the new supplier credit checks and then fails to accept you. There is no real need to be doing this and, in theory, any savings you make will simply reduce your expenses and thereby increase your IVA payment -- so you get nothing for potentially rocking the boat. Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

[kitty14]

Hello again,

I have some questions now this is up and running.

I initiated a gas and electric switch back in December it has now completed from EDF to British Gas for dual fuel. I shouldn’t run into any issues as this is direct debt. I mean it has set up fine.
I just don’t want any nasty surprises, so far I have encountered that my local council decided to write off my remaining council tax of £200 odd due to “bankruptcy” I was fine paying the monthly so quite annoyed that has happened.

Also does this mean I can no longer keep switching things like my gas and electric? And my phone bill? I pay direct debit for a sim only deal with o2 which I usually change when there’s better deals.

Thanks in advance I never really thought about all these minor things d’oh!

Some councils write off as a matter of course ( mine does) as it is cheaper to do this than fiddle about with dividends. It is only in recent years that CT has been dragged in at all.

Account / utilities switching can be an issue if the new supplier credit checks and then fails to accept you. There is no real need to be doing this and, in theory, any savings you make will simply reduce your expenses and thereby increase your IVA payment -- so you get nothing for potentially rocking the boat. Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Thanks, what will happen to the New Years council tax? Will it be apart of my Iva and I pay my say monthly payment of £78 to Stepchange instead?

[Foggy]

CT for this financial year is what has been written off ---- the coming years bill is a new debt and will not be in the IVA --- you will have to pay that to the council normally and it will be allowed as an essential expense in your I&E

[kitty14]

CT for this financial year is what has been written off ---- the coming years bill is a new debt and will not be in the IVA --- you will have to pay that to the council normally and it will be allowed as an essential expense in your I&E

Oh that’s good to hear another worry off my mind as I had no issues or arrears paying that.
Thank you I feel more at ease now.

[Mrs_Brown]

My IVA was approved in November a couple of years ago. Same thing happened with my council tax. I paid a little bit more to Stepchange in Jan, as I didn't have my council tax to pay, then in February and March I didn't have to pay anything extra to them and was able to keep the extra cash. I was worried that the council wouldn't let me reinstate monthly payments but all went OK the next year.

[kitty14]

My IVA was approved in November a couple of years ago. Same thing happened with my council tax. I paid a little bit more to Stepchange in Jan, as I didn't have my council tax to pay, then in February and March I didn't have to pay anything extra to them and was able to keep the extra cash. I was worried that the council wouldn't let me reinstate monthly payments but all went OK the next year.

Thank you so much for the clarification I’m glad this happens. I was so worried and confused I knew there was a chance it could happen but wasn’t too sure about it all. Still awaiting Stepchange to contact me about it.
Also waiting for HSBC to contact me regarding my accounts as they promised... I have confirmation of my Advanced account (with the overdraft) has been closed now but they’ve kept my Basic account open which is interesting. I finally today managed to transfer the whole £37 I left in there to my NatWest account. I’m tempted to keep the HSBC Basic account as a buffer for budgets etc but I will await confirmation from the higher up department I am in contact with.
I wouldn’t mind having it for the duration of my IVA if I know for sure they will not off set my funds...

[kallis3]

They can't offset them but they can still close your account. I would be wary of putting any money in there until you get it in writing that there is no problem with it staying open.

[kitty14]

They can't offset them but they can still close your account. I would be wary of putting any money in there until you get it in writing that there is no problem with it staying open.

Indeed I am awaiting confirmation from HSBC from the man who has been dealing with my complaint

[kitty14]

Hello all,

So HSBC got back to me about the accounts they have disappeared now from my app apart from the Basic account. Apparently I need to ring the specialist team to discuss my account etc but I’ll do that when I can be bothered if all fails I’ll just close the account no problem as my main account is NatWest.

So today was pay day and all my bills are due on the 1st.
Council tax and first payment is going to be made to Stepchange as they finally got back to me about council tax and as explained by you lovely people April’s bill will be back to my council so that’s good.

I need a bit of advise in terms of spending and using cash or card.
As in aware it’s best to withdraw the remaining funds to live on in cash to budget. But what if I want to spend on card to buy things online is this allows ie buying a pair of shoes etc. What’s responsible and what isn’t. Will they question my spending?

I’m already thinking about the annual review even though I’ve only just started I just really don’t want anything to go wrong.

[kallis3]

I used both. At least with cash you can't spend more than you need to.

[Foggy]

Using a debit card is perfectly OK and will not be examined closely --- at review they will not go into fine detail about what you are spending on from day to day.