Have you heard that an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) can help some people write off a lot of their debts?
That sounds great – and it’s not wrong… but it is only a small part of the story. IVAs are only suitable for a few people with problem debt.
Firms make thousands of pounds from setting up an IVA for you, so they can afford to advertise heavily on social media. These adverts often stress the advantages and don’t mention the disadvantages of an IVA.
You need to know about the problems that may occur before you sign up to one, not find out the hard way later. And also look to see if you have a better option than an IVA.
Contents
A quick overview of an IVA
An IVA is a type of insolvency, like bankruptcy, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is a legally binding contract between you and your creditors.
IVAs are arrangements with your creditors to pay off unsecured debt such as loans, credit cards and overdrafts. You can also include other debts such as utility arrears, tax debts and benefit overpayments. There is a full list of what can and can’t be included in Insolvency and types of debt.
It works like this:
- you make a monthly payment to your IVA firm for five years (some creditors insist this is six years);
- all interest is frozen during an IVA and you won’t be hassled or taken to court by your creditors.
- if your income goes up during the IVA you will have to pay more each month. This does not make your IVA end sooner;
- there is some limited flexibility to reduce payments if you get into difficulty. But many fail;
- if you have a house with equity, you have to try to release equity in the last year to pay into your IVA;
- at the end of your IVA, all the remaining debts are written off.
What happens during an IVA
All IVAs should have an annual review where your pay slips and bank statements will be checked. If your income has gone up you may have to pay more and if your expenses have gone up this is your chance to ask to pay less. See What happens in an annual review.
If your circumstances improve during the IVA, you will have to pay extra into the IVA. Often 50% of a pay increase or the whole of any money you inherit or any refund you get.
If things get worse, you may be able to get payments reduced, or suspend payments for up to 9 months, or longer if your creditors agree. These missed months are added on to the end of your IVA.
Sometimes it is possible to rescue a failing IVA but big problems, especially in the first few years, may well mean your IVA fails.
More than a third of IVAs fail. Often people were too optimistic at the start that they could manage 5 or 6 years of these payments. Other IVAs have been derailed by inflation, having another baby or losing their job.
If you have equity in your house, you are likely to have to remortgage or take an expensive secured loan in the last year of your IVA, see below. If this is not possible, your payments are usually extended for another year.
Problems that happen with IVAs
What may change during the IVA
You need to know how you will cope with likely changes during the IVA period.
It can be hard to predict inflation. but many likely trouble spots should be obvious at the start of an IVA:
Some examples:
- a mortgage fix ending while your IVA is still running, can be a major problem and result in your IVA failing or being extended for more years;
- how will you manage if your car dies?
- if you have a car on finance, find out what will happen when your car finance ends;
- if you have children, how will the costs rise as they get older? Will they need mobiles, pocket money, school trips?
- if a child gets to 18 during the IVA, what will your budget look like when your benefits decrease? if they will go to uni, how will you be able to afford to help them?
- might you need to move? An IVA wrecks your credit rating for 6 years, even if the IVA is settled early. This makes it very hard to get a new private tenancy – you will probably need a guarantor – and a new mortgage is likely to be impossible.
If your situation may well improve a lot, then an IVA is probably not a good idea either! You can end up repaying more than your original debts because of the IVA fees.
A tight IVA can turn into a disaster
It doesn’t take something dramatic like redundancy or a critical illness – 5 or 6 years is a long time and a lot of small changes can accumulate.
If you are paying £400-500 a month to the IVA, there is wriggle room to reduce your IVA payments if necessary. But if you only have £150 a month to be able to pay at the start, it isn’t going to take much to go wrong for your IVA to collapse.
The “secured loan clause”
Before your IVA is agreed, your IVA firm may just refer to “remortgaging” in the last year of your IVA. And you may feel pretty sure that no-one will offer you a remortgage!
But the IVA legal documentation almost always says you may have to take a secured loan if you cannot remortgage. In 2023 more people with IVAs are being forced to talk to a bad credit loan lender about releasing equity with a secured loan:
- the interest rates can be very high, 15%, 19% or more;
- these loans are often very long.
These are horrific – no-one should have to take out this sort of loan at the end of an IVA that was meant to get you out of debt.
If you are already in an IVA and are being pressured to take one out, you can complain.
But if you are just thinking about an IVA, it’s best to avoid this nightmare.
You could tell your IVA firm that you want the secured loan clause deleted – this is possible but they won’t want to do it. Or you can talk to a different IVA firm – I don’t believe StepChange has ever suggested someone takes out one of these rip-off loans.
If you want to end the IVA early
This isn’t easy and it can cost you a lot more than you expect. You should not go into an IVA thinking that you will be able to do this.
Many people think that their IVA says they have to make 60 payments of £150 say. So they think after making 15 payments, they can settle the IVA by finding the money for the other 45 payments.
This is not how IVAs work.
In an IVA you are expected to pay as much as you can to your debts, not just the monthly amount agreed at the start. So you may need to clear your debts in full, plus the IVA firm’s high fees.
Here are some different cases:
- if a relative could offer money to settle the IVA, read How much should I offer to settle my IVA early?
- sell house to end the IVA. Do not sell your house without getting this agreed with your IVA firm and approved by your creditors first.
- take money out of pension to end the IVA. Same problem – you must not do this until your IVA firm and creditors have agreed first.
- made redundant – some of your redundancy money has to go into your IVA and if it isn’t enough to clear all your debts in full, plus the IVA fees, your IVA won’t end early.
- you inherit money This sounds like good news but the inheritance goes to your creditors. Your IVA only ends if there is enough to repay all your debts in full plus the IVA fees.
Also even if your IVA is settled after a couple of years, it will still be on your credit record for 6 years, so problems getting a new tenancy or a mortgage will continue.
Do you have a better option than an IVA?
An IVA may be your best option, but you need genuinely independent advice about this from people who will not make any money from your decision – Citizens Advice or National Debtline.
Don’t dismiss other options – compare them
Look at the choice between an IVA or DRO
If you are renting and owe less than £30,000 in total (this maximum debt limit is going up to £50,000 in June 2024) , you must look into this. If you qualify for a Debt Relief Order that is always a better solution than an IVA! Don’t be one of the thousands of people every year who are mis-sold an IVA which fails because you should have had a DRO.
Look at the choice between an IVA or bankruptcy
Don’t be scared of the word bankruptcy and assume an IVA must be better. Often bankruptcy is a MUCH better choice unless you have assets to protect:
- 7 out of 8 people don’t have to make any monthly payments in bankruptcy.
- IVAs and bankruptcy are exactly the same for your credit rating and your chance of getting a mortgage afterwards.
- bankruptcy never goes wrong – 30% of IVAs fail, leaving you back with your debts.
Look at the choice between an IVA or a DMP
If your situation may change – for better or worse – a flexible DMP is often better than an inflexible IVA. A DMP may sound long at the start but it can be speeded up, eg with partial settlements or refunds for unaffordable lending?
Self-employed or own a small company?
An IVA can work if your business is profitable but you need advice from an expert, talk to Business Debtline about this.
“But an IVA will let me keep my house”
If you have a lot of equity and unmanageable debt an IVA can work well.
But with little or no equity, you may be able to keep the house if you go bankrupt. And if the main cause of your financial problems is the mortgage and the secured loans that you have, then it may be better not to struggle to keep the house.
If you have a mortgage fix ending in the term of an IVA be very careful as the increased mortgage payments may be unaffordable. And with Help To Buy, think about what will happen when you have to start making payments on the government share – if this is in the term of your IVA it may make the IVA hard to afford.
Also think very hard about the implications of being made to take an expensive secured loan in the final year of your IVA (see above.)
“But an IVA won’t cause problems with my job”
IVAs are the best choice for the small number of people such as solicitors and MPs who cannot go bankrupt. But many people worry unnecessarily about whether their job would be affected.
How an IVA is set up
Choosing an IVA firm
An IVA has to be arranged by an IVA firm – there is no “DIY” option. Read How to choose an IVA firm.
A good IVA firm will help you understand all the terms in your IVA – keep asking questions until you are sure you know exactly what you are committing yourself to. And get the answers to these points in writing from the IVA firm.
If you don’t feel your IVA firm is being helpful or is pressuring you to take a decision, talk to another one!
A good firm should want to answer all your questions and give you time to think about whether this is right for you. Any firm that is trying to get you to make a decision fast is more interested in their own fees than the best option for you.
Creditors vote to approve the IVA
The terms of your IVA are set out in a formal legal document, which your creditors vote to accept:
- 75% of those voting have to approve your proposal;
- if you have one very big creditor, this effectively gives that creditor a veto on whether you can have an IVA;
- if they agree, your IVA is then legally binding on all your creditors, not just those who voted for it;
- sometimes a creditor may require a change to the proposal. Don’t be pushed into agreeing to this, take some time to think about it. In particular, an extension to 6 years – consider if a more flexible DMP would be better.
Summary
Pros interest frozen, no hassle from creditors, debts wiped out after 5 or 6 years (may be extended), good for high-earning professionals with jobs where bankruptcy is not possible
Cons not much flexibility – one third of IVAs fail and leave you back with your debts, as much of your IVA payments will have gone to the IVA fees.
If your mortgage or rent may go up this may be a big problem.
Moving house or car finance ending can be big problem.
If you expect your income to fall or increase a lot, look at a debt management plan not an IVA.
Debt Camel says IVAs are most suitable for people owing a lot of money (£15k+) with assets to protect, and who have a regular and secure income. If you can’t tick all of those boxes, then there are likely to be better options for you. Even if you can tick them all, still go and investigate the other choices. You probably have a better option – IVAs are often mis-sold so it is right to be suspicious.
Derek says
Hi Sara,
Yes, assuming I can’t get another mortgage at 1.5% then I’m in big trouble come the end of it as there’s nothing left for the DMP. Mortgage has 8 years, 8 months to run. Lender is NatWest and it’s repayment.
I am not paying towards the DMP currently as I am either waiting on replies to CCA requests or Full and Final offers at 23%. Sainsbury’s (credit resolve) are waiting on further medical evidence from my NHS record. Moorcroft are managing both the overdraft and Santander CC but won’t give me a decision on the overdraft f&f without a similar offer on the CC. My daughter has said “fine, we’ll do that once you provide the CCA” so there’s a bit of an impasse whilst they come up with that.
PRA have sent statements but not the CCA, which they assure me they have, but 2 months on still haven’t sent to me. I have no reason to believe that these two are long term unenforceable as they are only around 4 years old.
Pension wise my IFA friend thinks we will be fine come retirement. I have already drawn down but have a job with very good pension arrangements which will greatly improve the outlook come retirement.
All my financial woes have built up between 7 and 4 years ago when I was ill. I am much better now but unable to perform to the High levels I did previously and can’t cope with pressure/ stress any more.
D
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The DMP will not be a problem for getting a new fix from NatWest, who won’t do affordability/credit checks if you only want a new fix, not to borrow more.
Have you made the point to your creditors with the F&F offers that you will be unable to make any payments to unsecured debts from 2025 when your mortgage goes up.
PRA have sent statements but not the CCA, which they assure me they have, but 2 months on still haven’t sent to me. I have no reason to believe that these two are long term unenforceable as they are only around 4 years old.
It isn’t just the age of the account that matters. Some debts are sold to debt collectors with a provision that the debt purchaser can’t go back to the lender and ask for the CCA…
Moorcroft – are the overdraft and the credit card both from Santander?
Derek says
Thank you Sara,
Yes, I have made the point re the mortgage going up. I think this is significant. The F&F offers are around 80% higher than the sum of my payments until then. I know some people don’t do this but I have tried to be as open and honest as possible with them, returning calls and providing what they’ve asked for, treating all equally.
Interesting about the CCA – I’ve not heard that before.
Both CC and O/D are with Santander. I offered on the o/D and Moorcroft came back saying Santander wanted to know what was happening re the CC. The CC was then passed to Moorcroft who asked me to make another CCA request which I have done.
aaron says
hi
you mention “But if you have had an IVA or bankruptcy after these problems, or if you are still in a DRO, then you shouldn’t complain – ask in the comments below for details.:
I am just applying or an IVA, should/can I still make a complaint for my Santander overdraft?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you say something about your general situation? Are you buying or renting? how large are the debts that would go into your IVA? how much does the IVA firm you are talking to say you would pay a month?
Thomas Webber says
Hi Sarah, I’m about to be made redundant from next week, signing the paper works today, I’m getting around £3600 from redundancy, how much of that will be needed to be paid into my IVA? I’ve currently got 2 years left to pay and I’m paying £212 a month with £4864.50 remaining on my IVA, I don’t have a job to go straight back into either, so I’m stressing a little. Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what is your monthly take home pay?
how easy will it be to find a job that pays the same? pays less?
Thomas says
My monthly take home pay is around £1400, finding a job a proving difficult at the moment:) jobs im applying for seem to be offering a lot less than what I was currently earning a week :) Thomas
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you need to tell your IVA now, if you haven’t already done this.
You are allowed to keep some of the redundancy pay while you look for another job. That is usually 6 months worth (see https://debtcamel.co.uk/iva-redundant/) so for you it will be all the £3,600. During this time you are expected to carry on paying into the IVA.
When that is all spend, the IVA firm may allow you to have a payment break for a few months. But if you cannot find another job, or they all pay a lot less, then you may need to ask for your IVA firm to be “completed on the basis of the funds paid to date” – this has to be approved by your creditors.
Thomas Webber says
Thank you for the response sara, glad to know I’ll be able to keep it all till I find something that will actually help alot, I thought they may take a good chunk of it but it’s good to hear they won’t, yes I informed them before Christmas I will be made redundant at the end of January and I did ring today to inform them, once I sign the paper work and get the redundancy confirmation I need to send it over to them :) thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well I and saying what the standard provisions are… your IVA firm can confirm this
Rachael says
I am in a 7 year IVA which started in October 2017 (due to end in October 2024). I have a 7 week old baby and will be on statutory maternity pay from June. This will mean I won’t be able to pay into the IVA during this time. As I’m in such a long IVA agreement, I would like to offer a full and final to settle around May. (For additional context, I have an IVA due to a previous abusive relationship which I was forced into taking loans out so I would love to have this out of my life.)
In September, the IVA company advised the minimum I could offer was £3783. I pay £260 per month. In your opinion, what would be a good amount to offer them in May?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have any spare money to offer?
Do you have a house with equity?
How large were the debts going into your IVA and were all of these consumer credit type debts (loans, cards, overdrafts etc)?
When you go back to work, presumably you will have additional childcare costs so would the current IVA payments been affordable then?
(I understand you want the IVA to end. I’m just trying to build up an argument to use.)
Rachael says
A family member is in a position to gift me the money to settle. We don’t own a house as we currently rent. The original debt was £17657 all of which were consumer type debt.
I’m unsure if the IVA payments would be affordable once back at work.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can I ask why this IVA was set at 7 years- it is unusually long – even 6 years years is uncommon unless you had a house with equity.
Rachael says
I’m actually not sure. They had the creditor meeting and came back to extend to 7 years which I (perhaps naively) agreed to.
I was on a much lower salary at the time so I assume that may be a factor.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It was a shame you didnt ask why. But you are where you are now, so what is the best thing you can do…
I think I would start by saying you have just looked at what you might be able to afford when you return to work and with childcare costs you don’t think you will be able to afford much if any payment to the IVA, certainly nowhere near £280 a month, and as your IVA is already 7 years long it would be unreasonable to extend it and you have already paid in much more than expected at the start because of pay increases. Ask if your IVA can be completed on the basis of the funds paid to date in June, when your pay drops. (This means that you IVA just completes in June with no settlement payment.)
Rachael says
Hi Sara,
Thanks so much for this suggestion. I think I will do this, it makes complete sense.
Since your response, we were given notice on our house as our landlord has decided to sell. We live in Windsor which is expensive but I grew up here and have a son who goes to school here so would be unreasonable to move elsewhere. Rent prices have gone up significantly which will see ours shoot up by £700pm and we were lucky enough to have our landlord not increase the rent since we’ve been here. We will need to vacate between March and April. With this in mind, I’m thinking of reaching out to ask for the IVA to be closed around April/May (instead of May/June as originally thinking). Would this be reasonable?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is another reason why your IVA should end early.
However it is very tight to try to get this closed by April/May – first you have to convince the IVA firm, then a meeting of the creditors has to be organised to vote on it and after that the IVA firm has admin to do to close an IVA…
(This would apply even if you were offering a settlement amount, the process is the same.)
Lyndsay says
Hi Sarah
I am in the final six months of an IVA. The third party I have been referred to has determined that it is not suitable for me to release equity for a number of reasons including the mortgage is in joint names with the other party not being contactable. The property is also a leasehold with not alot of years remaining on the lease. They have mentioned that they could look to extend the IVA for a further 12 months but I could really do with having this completed without the extension as I need to save to pay a Solicitor to deal with the extension of the lease before the property devalues any further. Could you give your thoughts on whether this is feasible and if I have to pay a further 12 months, would it be on the same terms in the IVA or just simply 12 months payments and that would be it, no further reviews or anything.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are the current payments affordable for you? Has your martgage cost gone up or do you have a fix ending in the next 12 months?
I am not sure how you can extend the lease if you cannot get hold the other person who is a joint owner.
Lyndsay says
Thank you Sara. I’m on the banks variable rate and have been for years due to the joint mortgage so have had an increase each time the BOE announces an increase. I have struggled to pay but make sure I do. Same with the IVA payments. With regards to the joint owner, I mean in terms of paying Solicitors fees etc to look at options. I have been advised a Solicitor can file papers with a court for an absentee owner. It is an expensive process I have been told.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if the current IVA payments are not affortdable because of the higher mortgage payments (and other cost of living increases) go back to your IVA firm and argue this and ask for your IVA to be completed now on the basis of the payments you have made to date.
Rebekka Skelton says
Hello, my original IVA was with Freeman Jones, (which was sold to Credit Fix), on my contract it says that I agree to pay £370 per month for 60 months, which is £20566.74, due to months where I have brought home more than my usual salary – due to overtime and bonuses, I’ve already paid to date £20,566.74 yet still have 33 months remaining meaning I’m due to pay pack £32,776.74 – do I have any rights to dispute or challenge this? I understand my creditors didn’t have to agree to the IVA and it’s entirely my fault for getting in this mess. I understand that a windfall / inheritance has to be paid into the IVA and will always go against the original debt amount (£40,598.61 in my case) but this is just general salary and bonuses
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What date was your IVA sold to Creditfix?
I am afraid Freeman Jones must have explained the IVA to you very badly. It is a standard part of IVAs that if your income goes up because of overtime and bonuses, the amount you pay into an IVA monthly will increase – unless of course your expenses have gone up more. You have no right to challenge this unless you feel that your increasesd expenses haven’t been fully taken into account.
Nicky says
Hi I’m nearly at the end of a six year IVA, my husband owns our property and my name has never been on the mortgage nor did I set up the mortgage with him. Will I still be asked to release equity at the end of my IVA? Im assuming not as the house isn’t mine and that I will have to complete another year instead in the IVA (7 years in all) if so.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
why was your IVA 6 years not 5?
This may have been because there is no equity to be released. And you shouldnt have an extra year added to make this 7.
K says
Hi Sara,
I am currently with step change for a dmp. I have 9 creditors totalling around £60k worth of debt. I became ill with COVID19 infection which has left me disabled. One creditor is refusing their share of £45 For a £9k personal loan remaining balance.& are threatening legal action They have a completed mh debt formMy MH is suffering due to debt. Single mum 3 dependents,
70k equity & mortgage = same provider as personal loan..
considering getting an IVA to secure the home. I have grave concerns. single parent, receive benefits for1st time in 26 years; inc pip. hanging into life by a thread My questions are;Is it ever possible to have creditors write off debt with equity on the grounds of contracting covid in the pandemic & it causing long term health conditions/ disabilities and poor mental health. Are there any avenues of free legal representation for people in my situation – step change don’t have anyone who will even speak to this creditor all they say they can do is share the documents through a secure portal & no communication takes place. 3Can an iva be set up without the secure loan element as these interest rates would be way beyond what I can afford on top of my mortgage. My mortgage ends in 9 years and 6 months.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are only paying £45 to the DMP? An IVA is not likely to be approved with that level of payment and your amount of debt.
Who is the creditor refusing the DMP payment?
It is possible to get debt write offs because of ill health.
Mark says
Hi Sara,
My IVA term of 6 years has now ended and I have received an “annual report pursuant to rule 5.31A of the Insolvency Rules 1986”.
Is this the same as a completion document as it states that no further action is required by myself?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds more like the Supervisors’s Annual Report to creditors.
The completing certificate normally refers to Rule 5.34(2) of the Insolvency Rules 1986.
I suggest you ask your IVA firm if this is the completion certificate
Sarah jayne says
Hi,
My partner has self employed and has got into debt with HMRC around 35k. He also has other debts totaling to around 17k. Do you know if HMRC gives more time to pay than the 12 months or would an Iva be a better option? He has a mortgage just in his name and I do not work due to illness. We do now have equity in the house which is quite a bit but do not want to move. We have tried to get a secured loan to no avail. Any help would be appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest he talks to Business Debtline https://www.businessdebtline.org/ on 0800 197 6026 about all his options
On those numbers HMRC would have a potential veto over an IVA. HMRC may also demand unrealistic modifications, eg insisting that the house should be sold in the last year if it isnt possible at that date to get a secured loan…
Nathan says
I have just had an early settlement offer accepted and payment made and received to the IVA firm. Whilst they kept asking, I never actually sent them a completed RX1 form and would like to sell my property. When would you suggest I get it listed with estate agents? Can I do it now or do I have to wait until the completion certificate comes through which could be a couple of months. Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you planning to buy another one with a mortgage?
Nathan says
Hi Sara, I have more equity than the IVA was aware of so was planning on going in to rented for a while and just paying a year up front to reduce my outgoings and get some money behind me again with a view to buy again in a couple of years time, or find a way to buy a property to rent out
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you don’t need a mortgage now. That simplifies things. But i strongly suggest you wait until you have the completion certificate before putting your property on the market.