If you are in the last few months of your IVA, you will be looking forward to making that last payment. It may feel a lot like getting to the finishing line of a marathon…
But when should you cancel your standing order? How long does it take to get your completion certificate? And when exactly are your debts written off?
This article looks at what happens at the end of an IVA.
Are you sure that is your last payment?
With a simple five or six year IVA, possibly with a further twelve months added instead of a remortgage, you may know exactly when your 60th or 72nd payment is going to be made.
But sometimes it’s less clear:
- there may be some payments outstanding if you had a payment break or extra months were added because of additional income;
- a change of IVA firm won’t by itself change the end date, but admin problems could happen so there is more chance that payments are outstanding;
- if you have a house but your IVA firm hasn’t spoken to you about releasing equity, don’t assume an extra year isn’t needed.
So it’s always worth checking with your IVA firm a couple of months before “the end” that Oct 2018 or whenever really will be your last payment.
A final review by your IVA firm
Your IVA firm will do a final review. Most of the larger firms have a special Closure Team that deals with this. Some firms do the review in the last couple of months, others wait until after your final payment.
It’s a bit like your annual reviews. Some firms ask for bank statements, payslips or a P60. They want to check if you had a lot of overtime, a pay rise, a bonus or some other windfall that you haven’t told them about. If you have, you may have to make some additional payment.
Hopefully after this, the firm will confirm that no more payments are needed and you can cancel that STO or DD.
What if they don’t get in contact?
If you haven’t heard from your IVA firm a couple of weeks week after your last payment, I suggest phoning or emailing them. Ask what you need to provide for the final review. The more you are pro-active at this stage, the quicker this will be over.
If they still don’t talk to you, then send them a weekly email. After a month put in a formal complaint.
If you want to cancel your STO / DD, I suggest you put the money you would have transferred into a separate savings account, don’t spend it. That way if it turns out there is still some money owing, you have it right there.
Your IVA firm closes the IVA
Once the Closure team confirm that you have made all the payments, they will distribute the last money to your creditors.
If you haven’t already agreed to the firm collecting PPI after your IVA has finished, you will probably be asked to sign something. If you don’t, the firm may refuse to close your IVA until they are certain there isn’t any more PPI to come – this could be years.
This may feel unfair but they are allowed to do this. If you want your IVA closed, you are going to have to sign.
This closure procedure used to take 6-8 weeks, but sometimes there can be long delays. If your Completion Certificate hasn’t arrived after three months, I suggest asking every few weeks what is happening and whether you need to provide any more information.
If it gets to five months after your last payment, put in a formal complaint to your IVA firm. At six months put in a complaint to the Insolvency Service about the delay in closing your IVA.
At last you will get your Completion Certificate:
- Your IVA is over. The final dividend has been sent to your creditors and the remainder of your debts are written off.
- Your IVA firm will update the Insolvency Register. Your name stays on the register showing as “completed” for three months, then the entry is deleted.
- The Insolvency Register sends the information that you IVA has completed to the three Credit Reference Agencies. The IVA marker will remain on your credit records until 6 years from the start if your IVA. or uuntil it is completed, whichever is later.
- If you have a house, your IVA firm will remove the restriction placed at the Land Registry so you can sell it.
Check everything has been updated
You should check that all the has worked properly. Leave it a couple of weeks and then look up your details on:
- the Insolvency Register – if this isn’t correct, call your IVA firm and ask them to correct it:
- Experian, Equifax and Call Credit – you do need to check all three. If your IVA still shows as active, send a copy of your Completion Certificate to the credit reference agency and ask them to correct it;
- Land Registry – if the restriction is still showing, call your IVA firm.
After this, wait another month, to give your creditors time to update their records.
Then you can start the process of cleaning up your credit file, see How to improve your credit rating after an IVA for details. This will ensure that your defaulted debts disappear when they should and that you start getting positive ticks each month on your credit records.
The process of improving your credit score is exactly the same if you have settled your IVA early.
So that’s the end. Except…
After that, everything has finished. You shouldn’t hear from your IVA firm again. There are two exceptions here.
One is unusual, and if it happens to you it’s good news – see Why have I been sent a cheque for unclaimed dividends? for details.
The other one is PPI complaints. If your IVA has finished in the last few years, you have probably been asked to agree to your IVA firm collected PPI after the closure. If your IVA finished longer ago, your IVA firm may still claim any PPI refunds you apply for, see PPI after IVAs have finished.
How equity release works in an IVA
How long do IVAs last & how many fail
Debt free – what will you do now?
Trudi says
Can anyone help? My IVA finishes next month (yaaay!) But I have 14 months payments to clear additional income arrears after. The IVA company are requesting my P60 & wages slips (no problem) but my argument is that as the actual IVA payments finish next month & I’ll only be paying the additional income arrears after – why should I need to send more paperwork? I could possibly pay the arrears off in one payment as my Sister offered to pay it off to get rid of it. Also – I’m receiving at least 1 text message / 1 email daily! Is this right? Thanks :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See the “final review” section in the article above.
Fidelia says
If your sister offered to pay let her do it once cos the more months you stay with iva, the more they will keep requesting for your documents and possibly trying to hold you attached to them for as long as they can. Speak to your insolvency about your sister wanting to pay it off for and see what they say. Also make sure all your communications with them are documented especially emails cos they will try to hold you back when you about to finish.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Whatever your sister offers, there will have to be a final review.
Sue turner says
Hi. Successfully completed Iva nearly 5 years ago. In the past few weeks have received letter from aperture about ppi and today got a letter from a company called Wilson tarquin. I understand where aperture will have got my details from as my Iva was with debt free direct but I don’t know where this company Wilson tarquin have got my details from. They obviously know about the iva as they reference it. After the completion of the Iva I meticulously spent months making sure that all evidence of the Iva was removed, even to the point of contacting companies to get information removed that they should have done themselves. I now have an extremely good credit score and thought all this was behind me. Is there somewhere Iva information is stored or can it be sold by companies.? Worried that all my hard work might now be undermined if anybody and everybody can use this information. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What does this letter from WT say?
Sue turner says
Says that it understand I had an iva and that I might be due to a refund that I might not have been eligible for whilst in the Iva. I presume that they are referring to ppi as they also mention qualifying times. I’m not interested in ppi only in where they could have got this information about me having once had an iva. One thing I did notice is that Wilson tarquin has a Manchester telephone number and so does the letter I received from aperture
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could send WT a Subject Access Request to customer.services@wilsontarquin.co.uk asking for a copy of all information they hold about you. That might give some clue about where they got it from.
Chris Johnson says
We have completed our IVA and have our certificate and all debts are cleared.
However, in the case of my wife we received a letter from a catalogue company and it seems back in the late 90’s she was paying PPI to the company. Something we all overlooked.
She has been awarded £6000 which is great news. However, in the letter it states that we are in an IVA and all money will be forwarded to Creditfix although the IVA has been completed for over 5 months. Can they do this to us?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You will have to ask Creditfix if the money can come to you, it will depend on the details of your IVA completion and Creditfix’s policy.
Chris Johnson says
I really do not understand this. After all these years of hard work even now they can carry on taking money!
This is really REALLY harsh.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is IVAs for you. Although not all IVA firms do this, you need to ask Creditfix.
On the plus side you did have a chunk of your debts written off in the IVA.
Lee says
Can anybody help?
We have just completed a 5 yr IVA, we where told originally that at the end we would have to pay a further 12 months as nobody would re-mortgage us due to having the IVA.
At the end Grant Thornton have told us that we ‘should’be able to re-mortgage and that they have passed our details on to a specialist mortgage provider who specialise in helping people with poor credit history.
They have managed to secure a second mortgage of £5k over the remaining 15 yrs of our resisting mortgage meaning we will actually repay about £14k.
The only other option is if a family member gifts us the £5k.
Is this allowed? It seems wrong that a scheme set up to help people out of debt willingly puts people in to even more debt??
Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Lee,
that sounds like a secured loan at about 17% … as you say, not what anyone would expect from a scheme to get people out of debt.
Can you give details about your house and mortgage:
– how large is the mortgage, on interest only or repayment? fixed rate, if yes, when does the fix end?
– how much is the house worth?
– do you both have an IVA? is the house in both your names?
– what are the IVA monthly repayments? have you been managing to make these OK or have you been struggling? would another year cause you difficulty?
Sue says
When my iva dropped off my credit record (6 years we had to wait from start of iva) we went to the bank. Secured a remortgage no problem, at a rate of 3%. If you can hold out until Iva is off your credit history I would.
Darren says
Sue, did you not have to inform them of your iva?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have to answer any questions honestly. Almost all lenders will ask about previous insolvency. But some, including some high street lenders, don’t mind once your bankruptcy/IVA/DRO is off your credit record.
Always go through a good broker, don’t just pick a good looking deal and find that lender will reject you!
Stacey says
My IVA was due to be completed on 18th July. I sent all the requested documents. One month on they are now saying we are in breach. This is because my husband started a self employed business last year and they are requesting a tax return form. The business has not been going long enough to do a tax return so has not done one. We have provided bank statements to prove incomings and outgoings. We have made every payment they have asked and have no arrears. What will happen as we cannot provide the document they ask, they say we are in breach and I’m worried what will happen next. Thank you for any help you can offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply to them saying that no tax return has yet been made and ask them what alternative infomration they would like instead.
Stacey says
I have done this and they have not been helpful. They just reiterated that without that the IVA cannot be completed and we are in breach. We have not had a good experience with our IVA company for the duration and were looking forward to finalising it and putting it behind us. We have done everything to the book but because of this one issue I am worried it may all be for nothing. What would happen if we are unable to provide this, will we have to keep paying or go bankrupt etc? Thank you for your reply
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who is your IVA firm? When did your husband start his business? Does he have an accountant?
Stacey says
It is Vanguard Insolvency. He started 10 months ago. He does not yet have an accountant but will do soon for his first tax return
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though they are behaving unreasonably.
Send them a formal written complaint saying they are behaving unreasonably by threatening that you are in breach of your IVA because you have not sent them a document that does not exist and where there is no legal reason why it should exist. Say you are happy to send them any details about the new self employed business instead of a tax form.
See https://www.vanguardinsolvency.co.uk/complaints-policy for their complaints policy and send the complaint to the Insolvency Service gateway if they reject your complaint or do not reply within 8 weeks.
Stacey says
Thank you, I thought they were being unfair but wasn’t sure where I stood so thank you for your help.
Michelle says
My Iva is due to finish in November my circumstances haven’t changed I’ve not got my own house so what should I be preparing to do my Iva is with Varden Nuttal all advice welcome thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They will probably ask to see bank statements, your last P60 and payslips since the P60.
Michelle says
Would that be my bank statements from now until nov as my last review has just gone through
I’ve never had to provide any bank statements while on Iva so was just wondering if they ask for them for final review
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s up to your IVA firm. It is common to be asked for statements.
Michelle says
Ok thanxs.
Virginia Gibson says
If you are getting attendance allowance
Which is non means tested should it
Be put as an income on your Iva thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes it’s income – but most people also have had additional costs that AA was intended to cover, so they should have been included as expenses.
Jules says
Hi my iva is finished in November, well I think it is, I have received a letter saying that there is no realisable equity in my property and that my iva want be extended to recover any equity, it says that iva will come to an end once all other terms have been met,
I’m with freeman Jones, thay have also sent a letter stating that all my ppi has been claimed,
Just want to know am I finally finished
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As the article above says, there will be a final review by your IVA firm after your last payment.
Julie says
Thankyou, iv also had a payment go in my bank off HMRC for back payments, do I pay this to them as its a tax thing,
And iv starting having child tax credit each week should this be counted in with my income
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It all goes into the “final review” as income. There may also be some extra expenses you have had that weren’t in your previous annual review? Mention these now so they are taken into account.
Lynne Mctaggart says
Hi, I have been reclaiming missold Ppi with the help of a claims firm.One of the companies concerned is stating that that the account was included in an IVA and they are requesting further information about the type of IVA. I have tried to contact the company that handled the IVA and found they no longer exist. They were eventually taken over by Creditfix.. I have spoken to Creditfix and they confirmed that they had taken on none of the firms previous cases. Does this mean that I should be paid back by the bank as the company no longer exists?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Possibly, but the refund may be set off against the debt that was written off at the end of the IVA.
Martin says
We finished our Iva in April 2019 but have not received our certificate of completion, I have rang on numerous occasions but only get the same answer it’s with our completions team. Do we definitely need this???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you do need it. It’s not the certificate itself that matters so much, but if your IVA firm hasn’t issued that, then it hasn’t closed your IVA. It will still stay on your credit record and the Insolvency Register forever if they don’t…
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/iva-completion-certificate/ for what to do.