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
More than a third of IVAs fail
Debt free – what will you do now?
Amie says
I completed my IVA in Jan 2018. One year ‘cooling off’ period would be over Jan 2019. Now applying for tenancy and it says you have to declare past and present IVAs, is that correct? Are they able to check? I thought the point was to be free of any poor credit history. Any advice welcome.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is an unusual question on a tenancy application, but you should answer it honestly.
Amie says
Thank you for replying. I think it’s such an unfair question as it’s been 3 years since the end. I hope it won’t affect my chances :-(
lee says
hi
i currently have 2 payments left on my IVA (64 payments) , last year Creditfix tried to get me and my wife to re mortgage our house through select partnership who were very aggressive in trying to get us to re mortgage with them by calling daily and alluding to us being in breach , although the terms would of turned a debt of 19k over 5 year into around 40k over 15 year , and they wonder why i complained , anyway after a few strongly worded emails they sent me a letter saying i no longer had to re mortgage but had to pay an extra 8 payments .
i want to pay off my last 2 payments in March so i can start getting my rating back up , but reading some of this does not fill me with confidence that it will happen this year, how long from end of March should i expect to see this resolution on my credit rating ?
Weatherman says
Hi Lee
The IVA shouldn’t be marked as ‘active’ after a couple of weeks after the resolution. But if it started less than six years ago, it’ll still show on your credit report (and reduce your credit score) until six years pass from the date it started. This article has some useful tips on how to improve your credit record as much as you can, within that constraint: https://debtcamel.co.uk/repair-credit-record-iva/
Sara (Debt Camel) says
After you have made the last payment there will still need to be a final review before your IVA is completed.
Jim says
My IVA was started April 2015. I made an offer and this was completed after 2.5 years. I understand this will stay on my record for 6 years. (Next month)
One of the debtors continued to show a monthly default on my account until October 2018 when they accepted my settlement.
How long will this stay on my record as I understood everything would be removed after 6 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry I missed this comment.
A debt that is defaulted will drop off your credit record 6 years after the default date. When a debt is included in an IVA, the default date should be on or before the start date of your IVA.
Lisa says
I have the exact same issue, I’ve been chasing around the creditor to try and get this resolved! They hold me as defaulting on loan payments during 2015 to 2018, the time I was paying through the IVA. Is that right? My credit score is so bad and I think this is why!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your credit score is so bad because you had an IVA. It has exactly the same effect on your credit record as bankruptcy.
If the loan was marked as defaulted on or before the date of the IVA that is correct. It will then drop off 6 years after the default date – so the loan will go at the same time as the IVA.
Jova says
Hi, my IVA was paid off early on January 9th. Is there a way that the completion certificate can be sped up? I’m not prepared to wait years, I want to get my life back, I have contacted the IVA company, but they are saying they have six months to complete the closure. They have done all the PPI checks in the first year. I can’t think of any other reason how it can take another three months? I know I’m being impatient, and I got myself in this position in the first case. What is the set time that these companies have to complete the closure of my IVA?
Weatherman says
Hi Jova
Six months is a long time (although sadly not unusual). You can certainly query it with them and if they still refuse, make a complaint – there’s more information here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/iva-completion-certificate/
There’s no guarantee that’ll speed things up, but absolutely no harm in giving them a bit of a kick.
Paul says
My Iva final payment was made in January 2021 after 6 years and I have contact the IVA company to see when the final certificate will be issued, they have come back and said they are awaiting a couple of creditors to make the claim for the funds that I have paid they say they have chased this up with the creditors but have not heard anything back and say that I have to wait until they have been in touch is this correct how long could this go on for before they issue the final certificate as all the IVA company says is that it has to await the creditors response to if or not they are wanting to make a claim, I understand the PPI side and have already signed to say that I am willing to allow them to any future PPI
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply that it is unreasonable that you should be waiting so longer and that you will be making a formal complaint if this gets to 6 months.
Paul says
they have come back with, if we don’t allow them to reply and they issue the completion certificate then the creditors could then re-approach me to chase the debt, is this possible when they have been included on the IVA or is this just the IVA company stalling
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This seems very unusual. i haven’t heard of a problem like this. Can you say who the IVA firm is? And can you ask them who the creditors are?
Paul says
The IVA company is Freeman Jones, and creditors are Santander and New day, all the defaults have been removed from my credit profile but the IVA still shows as active due to the completion certificate not been issued
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are those large creditors in your IVA?
Paul says
Only Santander this was only £7000 the other was minimal
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well this seems odd. I suggest you send your IP a complaint saying what you have been told about the delay and saying that failure to make the aware creditor of a claim or of the creditor to submit their claim in 5 years is matter of blame between the individual firms and it should not result in further detriment to you, the client. You can get an email address for your IP from the Insolvency Service register here https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/fip1/
Jus1972 says
My partner started her IVA in July 2013.she’s still paying it,9 years later.is this common? She’s never missed a payment & done everything they’ve asked her to do.is there anything she can do to get it finished? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s unusual…
Are you sure she has an IVA not a debt management plan? Which firm is she with?
Jus1972 says
Sorry should say 8 years not 9.it’s definitely an IVA she’s still on the register.the firm she’s with is debt movement uk ltd.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long was the original IVA proposal? Has she had expensions added as she paid overtime?
Jus1972 says
Original proposal was 5 years,they got in touch last year said there’d been an error so it had gone on a year longer.they then said it would work out better as it meant they wouldn’t be able to make her remortgage.but it’s just turned 8 year now & they’ve just asked her for her payslips etc. so don’t know how much longer it’s going to go on for
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is shame she has not complained before.
I suggest she sends them a complaint now by emailing complaints@debtmovement.co.uk and use the Subject “Why has my IVA not been completed?”, saying she would like an explanation of why her IVA was not completed after 6 years and a refund of the additional payments she has made.
She should also send them a request for a copy of all her data. Also email complaints@debtmovement.co.uk with the Subject “Subject Access Request” and say she would like to make a request for a copy of all her personal information.
Jus1972 says
She’s rang this morning & they’ve said there was a break in the IVA last year even though she still paid every payment last year.they’ve requested her last 3 payslips & indicated that it’s coming to an end shortly.we’re starting to get fed up now,an extra year wouldn’t have been a problem but it’s now just gone into its ninth year.thanks for your help by the way
Sara (Debt Camel) says
She should send them a complaint in writing as I said. Ask for a full explanation. State she has made every payment. Ask for a refund of the extra payments.
Don’t try to do this on the phone!
VBFG says
My son had an IVA which was officially discharged in 2012. It states on the Expedia website that it stays on your credit report for 6 years and then you can apply for it to be taken off. He and his sister inherited a property which they rent out and when they wanted to change the landlord insurance recently, LV Insurance wanted to know if they had had an IVA within the last 10 years. If it only has to be on your credit report for 6 years, are LV within their rights to ask whether a proposer has had an IVA which was discharged more than 6 years ago?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes they are allowed to ask that.
Sarah holden says
My iva has just finished. I retired in May and haven’t claimed my works pension yet do I have to let the iva people know that I am claiming it as I read I had to let pension people know if I’m in an iva as they will take all my pension to clear my debt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can you delay taking the pension until you have the completion notice from your IVA firm?
Sarah says
Yes I can delay my pension
Sara (Debt Camel) says
then that may be the simplest option?
Selina says
Help please! Made my last payment on IVA, and also a large final payment to cover some additional monies that were owed. 2 months passed. Chased IVA practitioner about completion cert. Got an email today saying that they received an additional claim, which resulted in claims from creditors being 26% higher than expected wich is a breach in my Ts & C’s and therefore my IVA isn’t over! They need to meet with my creditors & ask them if they will ‘allow’my agreeme to to finish, which they may or may not! I am speechless and devastated. Its been 5 1/2 long and painful years. Are they allowed to do this?? What happens if the creditors refuse?? How much longer can I be stuck in this nightmare??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large were the debts going into your IVA? what is this extra debt, do you agree it was owed and how much is it?
Selina says
I honestly cannot remember how large the debts were going in, its been going on so long! I have no clue what this new debt is, what it was for and when it was added! The email simply says like I stated above. I have replied and asked them to confirm what it is and when this additional claim was made, and if it took me over 26% of additional claims (again I have no knowledge of any other additional claims) which in turn breached my agreement, why wasn’t I informed at the time? Why has this come to light after I have not only made my final payment, but also an additional payment of over £900 to clear other amounts. I just have no idea as to how and why this can happen :(
Tim ber says
Hi.
My partner completed her last payment 2 months ago. She received her completion certificate and all debts on her credit record have gone to completed but one still remains on there showing as money still owed and defaulted. Is this normal? Her iva company haven’t really gave her much info and she’s panicking that this debt recovery company are gunna start chasing her when she’s finished her iva.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
2 months isn’t that long – I suggest she waits another month and then complains to the creditor.
Also is the default date correct – it should be on or before the start date of the IVA.
Rachael says
Hi I completed my Iva 6 years ago and now one of the loans included in it have sold the debt to lantern and they are saying I owe £133, I thought after the Iva had ended the debt was written off is this correct or do I still owe the money? Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It has been written off. You can refer them to your IVA firm. If you have the IVA completion certificate you can send them that.
Julie says
My iva has now finished but I’ve not been awarded a certificate apparently due to a breach ,can you advise please
I couldn’t make payments when my husband was made redundant and we went on to universal credit
Close to the end of my 5yr agreement (hence when husband was made redundant)
I own my property that’s still got a mortgage,my husband now works part time we are 63 and 62 yrs of age.
I am disabled on pip,my husband has recurring bladder cancer.
It was accepted that there was no way we could afford another year of payments and also couldn’t release equity either..(so what does this certificate mean to us if it’s not released)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you been told your IVA has been treated as completed! Or that it has failed?
Who is the IVA firm?
Julie says
Completed
Aperture originally but now debt movement I think..
When I queried it yesterday via phone call,I was repeatedly told that it will all be closed in around 6mnths…
In the chairmans creditors report all parties approved bar council tax debt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then you should get a completion certificate.
But it isn’t clear to me if your IVA has actually been completed yet – the decision has been made by your creditors but the IVA firm has to do its final checks and close the IVA, which may be the reference to 6 months.
You won’t get a completion certificate until all this is done.
Julie says
Thanks sara
Kev says
Do I need to contact all 3 credit companies to let them know ive6finished my IVA and have received my completion certificate ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is normally updated by your IVA firm. As the article above says, wait a few weeks and then check – you only need to tell them if it hasn’t been updated.
Emily says
My husband’s IVA finished in May 2020. We have not received any paperwork, email, or phone calls. My husband contacted them after finding out that we can’t get a mortgage due to an active IVA. The company are now telling him that due to salary increases over the years we now owe £18,000. Please help. This is going to ruin us.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what a horror.
Had his salary gone up a lot?
Did the IVA firm do any annual reviews? Who is the firm?
Emily says
Hi thank you for taking the time to respond. Yes he completed yearly reviews and yes his salary had increased over the 7yrs. No communication had been had other than that. It was with Grant Thornton UK.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So he had annual reviews and Grant Thornton said each time he didn’t have to increase his payment?
Did you not ask for a c9ompletion certificate earlier?
Emily says
No communication at all after each review and neither of us was aware he had to request a completion certificate.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you asked for an explanation of how the 18,000 was arrived at? Is this just with reference to his extra income? Did you supply increased expense figures at the annual reviews – these should have been taken account of?
Kev says
Completed IVA 2 years ago and got the certificate and all documents etc. 18 months ago we where approached by the creditor demanding money, we told them they was part of the IVA and we have completed with cert so stop demanding payment 6 months ago without us knowing they have been taking money from us towards this IVA debt , yes they where included on the creditors list. They took this money by reducing our benefits ( the creditor was HRMC over payment ) we contacted them last week and the burden of proof is on us to prove we had an iva and that its completed. that cant be right ?? they where part of the IVA , how can they demand proof from us when they are braking the law ??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you send them a copy of your completion certificate?
David Miller says
Hi I Finished My Iva 6 Months Ago And Had Completion Certificate I Have Small Pension Pot And For Unforseen Circumstances Need To Cash It In ! Am I Allowed Or Will I Lose It !
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can now do what you want with your pension pot!
Do take advice on whether you have any other options though before raiding your pension, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/2015-pension-changes-a-new-option-for-paying-off-debts/
Callie says
I started my IVA in 2017 and have just completed my annual review, they told me I only have 1 more payment to make. I want to start building up my credit again and to get a credit card purely for fuel expenses for work. Is it wise to wait until it is totally complete or can I apply now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wait until you have your IVA completion certificate. And then after a month check that your credit record has been correctly updated before making any credit applications, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/repair-credit-record-iva/
Jo says
Hi,
We completed our IVA payments in November 2014. We both now have great credit reports with just car finance on partners.
We have just applied for a mortgage with NatWest. Everything was approved just before Christmas when we were told NatWest just had to carry out final checks and issue us with an offer.
Today it’s been declined. The information we have received is that an F marker specialist has confirmed my partner had a write off with RBS in 2016 and as it’s within the 6 years the application has been declined. It says the marker was placed in 2009 which would’ve been the start of our IVA, but the write off with RBS never occurred until 2016. Because it’s within 6 years the marker cannot be removed.
They are not able to give our mortgage broker any further information with when in 2016 and there is no record of this on my partners credit file. We’ve been advised to contact RBS but as his account was closed we are struggling to get anywhere.
He’s gutted that something that we cleared in 2014 has impacted our mortgage application. Surely it should’ve been written off on completion? Is there anyway to challenge this marker?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though it is an internal marker. Lenders can look at whatever information they have on their internal records… this is why I always suggest that people should not apply for a mortgage to a lender they have had previous problems with.
The obvious question here is whether the marker date is correct?
You may have made your last IVA payment in 2014, but do you remember what date you got your completion certificate? It isn’t impossible that that could have been 2016.
But the problem is that trying to argue that the marker date is wrong is likely to take a long time. It may be simpler to get a mortgage from a different lender – what does your broker say?
Jo says
Thank you for your reply
Our broker has suggested finding the date the marker was placed in 2016 as it may be that we are approaching the 6 year mark. They thought we may hit this hurdle at the final point with other lenders so wanted to try to resolve with RBS if possible first.
In thought it may be an internal marker with both NatWest and RBS being part of the same group. Do you therefore think even outside the 6 year period they may hold this against us? And that it may not be an issue with another lender?
Completion certificate was issued in 2015 but I cannot find it! I’m hoping I can contact the IVA company for a copy.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you therefore think even outside the 6 year period they may hold this against us?
I don’t know. There is nothing to stop a lender using their own records going back 20 years or more… of course most don’t. And it sounds as though it isn’t RBS policy to. But if their date is wrong it could take months to get them to correct it.
And that it may not be an issue with another lender?
You can only hit this problem with lenders where a debt was included in the IVA. This must be from RBS’s internal files, not your credit records. There must be some good lenders around you didn’t owe money to!
Jo says
Thank you for your help.
Conor says
Hi, I’ve completed my iva roughly December 2020, and have been stress free since, I’m in the process of inheriting a house and my plan is to rent it out. Is it possible for my credit agency to come back and go through my history etc and open my file again and demand more money?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have your completion certificate?
Conor says
Yes have it and the paperwork too.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then there shouldn’t be a problem if the person who died leaving you the house passed away after your IVA had completed.
The only reason your IVA firm may come back to you is if you receive some money that was an asset of the IVA eg a refund for a loan taken out before the IVA started. or inheritance from someone who died before your IVA completed.
Matt says
Hi,
My IVA agreement was in May 5 years ago but i Can see that 3 out of the 8 debters continued to add defults for a further 6 months before they stopped. Will i be able to get the defults changed so the last defult date allignes with them singing the IVA Agreement?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
see https://debtcamel.co.uk/repair-credit-record-iva/ which looks at what should have happened to your credit record.