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.
Ar
e 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 maybe 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 Dec 2016 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 will be removed from the Register after 3 months.
- 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.
- 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. Get the £2 statutory reports because these are up to date. 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.
After that, everything has finished. You shouldn’t hear from your IVA firm again. There is only one unusual exception here, and if it happens to you it’s good news – see Why have I been sent a cheque for unclaimed dividends? for details.
How equity release works in an IVA
How long do IVAs last & how many fail
Everything you need to know about IVAs!
Holmes says
Hi. I’m 4 years in to my IVA I have noticed on my paperwork that one of my creditors has not come forward. I owed them 12k. My other creditors have come forward totaling another 6k. All together this should be 18k What happenes if the creditor of 12k does not come forward?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is a bit premature to be worrying about this, the missing creditor may well come forward and submit a claim.
I am assuming they were notified about the IVA being set up but didn’t vote at the meeting. They are still bound by the IVA and the debt will still be wiped out at the end of the IVA. If they don’t submit a claim, then the money they would have been entitled to will be distributed between your other creditors giving them a higher dividend. But your IVA firm will be trying very hard to contact them after the last payment so this isn’t necessary.
Denise says
hi we went into an iva 6 years ago, since then they have changed companies when we first went into an iva they said it would be for 5 years and if they can’t get any equity out of our house would have to do another year. now this new company is saying we have to do 1 more year so in total it will be 7 years surely these companies can’t get away with doing this to people is there any one we can talk to about this matter
would love your advise
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Denise, you need to check your IVAs terms. It may be that when it was approved, it was set up as six years? You should have had this explained to you. But if the documents you have say five years, ask your IVA firm to explain why you are now being asked to do a 7th year.
ann dolan swarbrick says
my IVA finishes in 6 months (four years) never missed a payment – I have paid just over £27k on a det of £40k Recently I received a anon. text saying “they were going to take my house and my pensions and declare me with dementia. I am a senior citizen and did not go into debt as a volunteer – I paid for my husbands care £87k. Halifax hold my “liefetime mortgage of 56k. Can they do this…..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Ann, if you are getting a lot of these (you have commented about them before) you could talk to your IVA firm or go to your local Citizens Advice. It doesn’t sound as though you have anything to worry about legally, but it would be good to have your mind put at rest by someone who can talk through the details with you.
Beverley Haines says
Hi we had a five year IVA which finished in October this year. We heard nothing so I rang the company who told me that we had in fact paid too much money (2 months overpaid) I was told to cancel DD and that we would receive refund within 3-5working days. This didn’t happen so called them again I was told that we could not have refund until they had received overpaid money back from creditors. Still not heard anything from the company with regards to final paperwork to say IVA is finished. What do you suggest ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am surprised they have already distributed your last 2 months payments to your creditors… I suggest putting in a formal complaint in writing to them saying a) they haven’t kept you informed, b) they told you you could have a refund straight away and c) if they have already distributed the money, why have you not been sent a completion certificate? Add that you will be taking your complaint through the Insolvency Service Gateway if this is not resolved with 28 days.
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/complaint-iva/ which has more info on complaining about an IVA.
Graham Lyons says
We completed our IVA making our last payment approximately 4 months ago.
We are still receiving letters from the IVA company stating they are still awaiting P60s from previous years of which we have sent and now they are stating we are in breach of the Voluntary Arrangement.
We have adhered to the terms and conditions within the agreement.
Since we began the IVA we have had no fewer than seven case officers of which I have explained this to the company.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is it just the old P60s they are asking for? Have you been having annual reviews?
Graham Lyons says
Hi, they have asked for the old P60s,
Yes we have had annual reviews
The last annual review I declared an increase in my wages of which they increased our payments
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well send them again along with a pointed note saying they have already had these. This is tedious, but it’s probably going to be fastest to resend what they are asking for even if it is annoying.
Graham Lyons says
Unfortunately we do not have the P60’s for the years they are asking for 2010 up to 2016 .
My wife resent the previous P60’s ie 2015,2016 but these were the originals due to her being stressed with the whole saga
I contacted the company to explain that the payslips and also the P60’s were resent, but they are still requesting them.
I am seeking legal advise regarding this situation as i feel we have adhered to the clauses set out by the company and
feel that it is not our fault that they cannot find the relevant paperwork within their archives.
Chris Johnson says
Hi, I am in my 5th year of an IVA. I asked the company (Credit fix) when my last payment will be and they stated December, however there may be a review and I may have to pay for another 12 months or remortgage.
I have never missed a payment. Can I ask, under what circumstances would they ask me to pay for another 12 months as this is devistating news to me. We have another 6 years on our Mortgage and I assumed that after 5 years it would be finished.
Please advise me as I am just so upset by this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Chris, this article https://debtcamel.co.uk/iva-equity-release/ looks at equity release. It is disappointing to say the least that this has come as a surprise to you – it should have been clearly explained at the start.
Chris Johnson says
Sarah, thank you so much for your reply.
If I could sort of lay this out. We were in trouble. We were around 57,000 down. However, we have paid with PPI repayments well over 30,000 with a year to go.
I understand this is obviously our obligation to pay. We have. We are more than honest and give everything we can. However, these companies also take a lot off the top. So after our final (this year) payment we would have repaid around £35,000. In your opinion, and honestly, I am only asking your opinion not a final ruling.,,, do you think they will extend it for yet another year? If so, so be it. I just hope I last that long. Work is good, and do far no more heart attacks :-(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have enough equity (see the other article) then you will need to make an extra year of payments. What you have paid in isn’t relevant unless you have repaid all the debts pluas the IVA fees – which you aren’t close to.
If your expenses have risen more than your income, it may be that the amount you are paying could be revised down.
Dave says
Hi Sara,
Our 5 years of IVA payments ended in November, it has been a real slog. My wife and I are both self employed and work for a charity. We both receive a fixed self employed income for the work we do, which is lots of work but quite low wages because of the nature of the business.
Our IVA firm asked for our SA302 forms for the past 5 years which we have sent off.
When the IVA was set up we had been paying about £250 per month to a debt solution company which we could just about afford, so when the IVA stared they kept our monthly payments close to this.
Our wages have never increased over the five years, but all our bills have gone up and our tax credits have gone down, which has meant paying the £250 per month has increasingly become difficult but we got through it by the skin of our teeth. Our annual Income and Expenditure form had us down every time as having over £500 each month to use for housekeeping, clothes, travel and home repairs, this was more like £200. I adjusted the review form every time and sent it back with a question to ask if our IVA payments could be lowered. They never replied and never adjusted the Income and expenditure form. We were forced to find cheaper places to shop and cheaper ways to live knowing one day all this will be over. We have three children and that has been the hardest part, saying NO to them all the time to basic life luxuries.
I’ve chatted to many different people at the IVA firm over the years and explained our situation and they have all been sympathetic but never really helped.
I had a small van for a short period of time and made a little extra money a few times with it which helped us eat. I told the IVA firm about this several times.
But to my horror I had a call from the company last week questioning every aspect of our lives and saying that the extra money I made with my van should have gone towards the IVA. I’ve sent them all my bank statements and I’m now worried that our IVA will fail and we will be made bankrupt.
The stress of all this is slowly killing us.
Is there any advice you can give to help please.
Many thanks
Dave
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you should reply to them in writing saying that you have given the all the information about the van before and they ignored it so you assumed it wasn’t a problem. You would like them to revist each of your annual reviews as you also feel they have ignored the information you gave them about your expenses increasing.
Dave says
Thank you Sara, you’re a big help. I will let you know how it goes.
Dave says
Hi Sara,
Just to update you on the above, I sent in all the information they requested a week ago with a covering letter.
I included an up to date income and expenditure form, which after all our bills are paid, plus the IVA (£250), leaves us with approx £175 to £200 per month for the five of us to live on. We have been living on this low amount for quite a while, my wife has become an expert grocery bargain basement shopper, so I said if we could reduce the payments that would be great, or if we have to continue the £250 IVA payments for another 12 months we will get on with it and hope the time flies.
They acknowledged receipt of my documents by text last week and said they are dealing with it. This was over a week ago and I have heard nothing since. We haven’t made an IVA payment since our 60th payment in November, which we hoped would be our last payment. We have equity in our house, but it has been confirmed that we are unable to remortgage.
Should I call them and ask what the delay is? The quicker we continue our monthly payments, the quicker this nightmare will end.
In your experience what do you think will be the outcome to all this, and should we just sit and wait?
Many thanks.
Dave
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£175-200 a month is not a reasonable amount for a family of 5 to live on even if your wfe is a demon shopper. From what you have said it sounds as though you need a variation so your IVA will be accepted as completed. I think you should call them and ask what is happening.
Dave says
Thank you Sara.
I don’t know what a variation is but I will contact them and let you know how I get on.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry, using technical jargon = bad habit :(
Your IVA will currently say (at least alomost all do, I haven’t seen yours) that you need to pay for another 12 months if you can’t remortgage to release equity. To get this changed, your IVA firm needs to draft a proposed “variation” to the terms of your IVA, which your creditors will then vote to approve. This is the normal way to get an IVA amended.
Dave says
Thanks Sara,
I just got off the phone to the IVA company. The same guy I’ve been speaking to. He said he needs to go through everything that I sent in (over a week ago) to see where we stand. He said he should be back in touch early next week.
Thanks Sara. I’ll keep you posted.
Dave says
Hi Sara,
Just to update you again on the above.
It has been a battle to say the least with our IVA firm, over the past few weeks, to convince them that all we’re telling them is true, but having gone through our bank statements, SA302 forms, tax credit and child benefit details etc, with a fine tooth comb, it now seems that they are finally back on our side.
They carefully went through an income and expenditure review with us and agreed that we can’t really afford to continue paying the £250 IVA payment each month, so they are now drafting a proposal, which will be sent to us to sign. It is to ask our creditors if they will accept the IVA as completed. Failing this they will ask if they will accept a greatly reduced payment (£80 ish) for a further twelve months. Failing this we have said we will brace ourselves for a further year and continue to pay the £250 if forced to, just so we can see the back of it and avoid being made bankrupt.
In your experience what usually happens at this stage? We made all 60 IVA payments (£250) without a break, even though it is still only about 15% to 20% of what we actually owe and we have a decent amount of equity in our home. I hope this doesn’t go against us.
It has been the most difficult and frustrating experience of our lives. When we were sold the IVA in 2011 it sounded like a piece of cake, and throughout the five years our IVA firm seemed to be our best friends, but as soon as the 60 payments were made they turned against us and tried hard to trip us up. I’m not sure if this is a usual thing, or if we were just unlucky.
Thank you for all your help Sara.
Kind regards
Dave
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though your IVA firm is proposing a sensible way forward. It isn’t unusual for creditors to be asked to accept an IVA as completed in this sort of situation, but I am afraid each case is individual and there is simply no point in me making a guess as to whether it will be accepted.
Dave says
Thank you Sara. I’ll keep you posted.
Dave says
Hi Sara,
I called our IVA firm regarding the mis selling of PPIs and they put me through to a sister company who deals with PPIs. Initially they were keen to pursue the possibility. They said it should be easy to start the ball rolling as they already have all the details needed. The lady I was speaking to then needed to speak to her manager and she came back to me to say that because of a new law we may not be able to keep any money due and it may possibly be paid back to our creditors, so it’s probably not worth pursuing.
She said she was going to look into it for us and call me back. This was last Monday and I haven’t heard anything since.
Is she correct? And shall we forget about it?
Many thanks
Dave
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s not a new law, but there has been a recent appeal court decision in the Green v Wright case… see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-iva-green-wright/.
Have you had your completion certificate? How long ago? Who is your IVA firm?
Dave says
Hi Sara,
Our creditors had a variation meeting yesterday and they voted to accept the IVA as complete. What a relief. Thank you very much for all your advice on this site, it has been a big help.
What exactly happens next please?
The IVA started on 31/10/2011 and it was accepted as complete yesterday 5/4/2017
Many thanks again
Dave.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good news!
What happens now depoends a bit on your firm. Some will go through a normal closing-your-IVA process and ask you for your bank atements and payslips again – but nothing should go wrong unless you have just won the lottery or something, so try to regard this as tedious, not worrying. Some seem to decide they already know enough.
If you haven’t heard from them in a couple of weeks I suggest calling and asking about what wuill happen and when.
Dave says
Hi Sara,
More good news.. Our Certificate of Completion arrived today, 4th May, it was dated 28th April 2017. It seems to have been a quick thing. The creditors only accepted the variation to end the IVA on 5th April. And it is not really a certificate, just a letter. I’m not complaining honest ;-)
Does this mean it is now completely at and end, and we are officially now debt free? Or are there other things up ahead?
And moving forward, what is the timeline now for being removed from the Insolvency register / Land registry restriction, and regarding the credit reference agencies etc.
It says somewhere 3 months to come off the Insolvency Register, but 3 months from when?
Our IVA was first accepted on 31/10/2011, and our first of 60 payments was on 20/11/2011 and our final payment (60th) was on 20/10/2016.
The IVA variation meeting was held on 05/04/2017, and our Completion Certificate is dated 28/04/2017.
Also, what date will be able to start rebuilding our credit score etc. Not that we have plans to get back into enormous debt of course.
Also, do I need to send a copy of the Completion Certificate to anybody?
One last question about PPI. We have never attempted to claim for it, and in original the variation proposal letter it states;
“Should these revised proposals be accepted, whilst I am not aware of any intended or ongoing reclaims regarding the mis-sell of PPI policies, should the client make any such reclaims successfully any redress received prior to the final report, I intend to consider these funds as excluded from the arrangements and be retained by the clients”
Have you any idea what this means please?
Many thanks again.
Best wishes
Dave
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done – you probably feel as though the picture on the article above is appropriate!
Yes, with your completion certificate this is finally done and your remaining debts in the IVA are now wiped out. Your details will remain on the Insolvency Register for 3 months – I guess from the date on the completion certificate. Your IVA firm should remove the restiction at the Land registry – check in a month and complain if they haven’t done this.
The IVA marker will go from your credit record 6 years from the start date, so a more few months to go. Here is how to start the credit record clean up process: https://debtcamel.co.uk/repair-credit-record-iva/ but I suggest waiting a couple of months so your creditors have a chance to get it right all by themselves :)
You don’t need to send the certificate of completion to anyone at the moment. But you may need it if you need to write one of the letters in the clean-up link. Keep this certificate forever, it is a piece of paper you do not want to lose.
That PPI clause … it sounds a bit mangled to me. I am guessing that the word “prior” should actually have read “after”… If you think there is any PPI to reclaim, you should ask your IVA firm to clarify this as I think they will be happy for you to do it and keep the money.
Dave says
Thank you Sara,
Yes, the picture above perfectly sums up our feelings, it really is like completing a marathon.
Your help and advice along the way though has been like a well needed piggy back at times, so thank you.
Maybe we should let the dust settle a bit regarding the PPI?. What do you think? I’m pretty sure we have been mis sold this in the past by many companies, but it seems a bit of a cheek to now claim money off them after they have just written off lots of our debt.
Thanks again Sara. I think I will keep our completion certificate in a glass case :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask your IVA firm about this now. If you wait a while they may have archived your case and have to get it back to answer your question! Also there is a deadline coming up for PPI claims, so getting them in sooner rather than later is a good idea: https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-deadline-august-2019-plevin/.
Dave says
Sorry Sara. (Re your question about PPI above)
Yes – I’ve received the completion certificate, dated 28th April
IVA firm – Freeman Jones
Many thanks
Jeanette McKellar says
Hi Sarah,
I am now in my third year of my IVA. I have been paying the same amount of £149 every month and not missed a payment. I get missed calls every single day from their PPI arm of the company and they have recovered over £11,000 so far. I received a letter saying that my IVA payments will stay the same for my third year, however, I rent my home and work hard, What will happen after the five years as I am now feeling harassed by the PPI section of this company?
Thank you in advance for you’re reply.
Jeanette
Helen says
I had an IVA that began 01/2010 it was a 6 year iva that was at a set fee for 2 1/2 years until my car finance completed then it increased by that amount, I then had a child in childcare so my outgoings increased a lot which left my disposable income less, I sent off my new details and they deemed my affordability was now less. I then went onto have another child who was also in childcare and I worked part time. On my credit file (Experian) my debt was seen as completed closed and satisfied for a while and has now gone off it altogether where do you think I stand as it still says my IVA is active but it’s now over 7 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you been making any payments? Who is your IVA firm?
Helen says
I never stopped making payment but when my disposable income was less I paid less
Not sure of it’s name as it changed its name twice during the 6 years. I know I haven’t paid the full amount set out at the beginning but my credit file is clear and my score has gone up does that mean it’s satisfied
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, I am afraid that just reflects the fact that defaulted debts disappear from your credit record after 6 years. You need to talk to your IVA firm. I think you should be asking if your IVA can be ended now.
Helen Neale says
Thank you I’m just scared that they will re add all my debt to my credit file. Can they do this ??
Many thanks for your reply
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A debt that has disappeared as it defaulted over 6 years ago can never be re-added to your records, this isn’t something to worry about. But you do need to find out what is happening with your IVA and when the expected end date is.
Chris McCoy says
Started a 6 year iva in 2012 Did a full and final settlement in June 2016 last year received my certificate in semptember 2016 I’ve looked on the insolvency register and seen that I’m still on there should I have come of this or do I get removed once 6 years as completed
Kind regards chris..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should have been removed 3 months after completion. Talk to your IVA firm and ask why the Register hasn’t been updated.
Kare says
I have finished my iva and I am think of taking my pension early to extend the lease on my flat . Can my creditors ask for the money to be paid to them instead as a windfall
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have your completion certificate, you can do what you like with your pension, your IVA has no claim over it.
I always suggest people talk to Pension Wise about taking money from their pension.
Robert Gallaher says
Briefly:-
– started a 5 year IVA in November 2011
– made every payment on time up to Nov 2015
– told by administrator in Nov 2015 to stop the DDM and await their review on the viability of remortgage vs 6th year (I am 73 with insufficient income, in lenders terms, for a remortgage) but i am working full time
– SPAM email (!) in Feb 2016 from another company saying they ‘had taken over the previous company’s IVA book and would be in touch in a couple of weeks..’ No letter, no other contact, I thought it was a scam.
– wrote to the first IVA company for confirmation and got no reply
– haven’t heard a word from anyone since (16 months) and IVA still on the credit record
– I want to retire and repay the ‘interest only’ mortgage from an Equity release (only 5 years to go on mortgage!!)
Advice please on how to approach this negligence on the administrators part.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you spoken to the company that say they have taken over the IVA? If not, that would seem to be the first thing to do.
julia says
I took out an IVA in 2011, coming up for 5 years I had a letter off of NTF financial solutions saying my IVA was coming to an end I paid every month never missing a payment and at the start of the 6th year they estimated my outgoings and income and said I owed more money £727 but from the moment I took out my IVA my mortgage went up nearly £200 pounds and I did tell the IVA company but I still carried on paying the same amount every month, I refused to pay this amount as I was not earning anymore money like they suggested. That all went quiet I had a letter saying everything was on course. Then out of the blue I had a letter saying my mortgage could have been miss-sold and they wanted to look into it. .I know my mortgage wasn’t miss-sold it would be wasting their time. So I didn’t respond I thought everything was finished my IVA was for 5 years and my property was exempt, they were hounding me about this sending letters ringing me up about the mortgage miss-selling it was like they wanted to squeeze every penny they could get they had my PPI refunds also I thought enough is enough, now because they did not get any joy with the mortgage miss-selling they are asking for the £727 again they hadn’t mentioned it for ages and I think just for spite they are threatening to make me bankrupt, I could carry on paying with a struggle but it is the principal I don’t think they should be asking me for anymore money
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When was your last payment? HAve they come up with a statement explaining why they say you owe an extra £727?
Fiona T says
Hi
I am due to pay the last instalment of my IVA which is due at the end of May 2017. My IVA was due to end in May 2016 however it was further extended due to fact that they were unable to release any equity on my property. I have made all of the payments on time and never missed a payment however I think I may have breached a term of my IVA. I took out a credit card which was originally capped at £500 which I believe is permitted under the terms however the credit limited was increased over the last year meaning that it exceeding the permitted amount of £500. I have begun the process of closing my IVA and my Supervisors have requested various documentation from me including a copy of my bank statements. On my bank statements they have noticed a payment to Vanquis and have now queried it and asking for further detail as to the amount of credit, when it was taken out and what it was used for.
I am worried that this will cause my IVA to fail and mean they could make me bankrupt despite the fact that all payments have been made to date and the final payment will be made at the end of the month. Please could you advise me on whether this is going to cause me further problems?
Thank you in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you use the larger credit limit? What is the largest balance you have had?
Fiona says
The credit is about £4,000 and I have used £3,000.
As I was in the process of closing my IVA, the requested from me copies of my bank statements and saw that a payment to vanquis had been made so they are now querying it (i.e the outstanding balance, when the credit was taken out and what it was used for). I could pay about £2,000 to reduce the outstanding balance but want to know whether it’s likely to be an issue first.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it is going to be an issue, but I can’t really guess what your IVA firm is going to say. I suggest getting in touch with them asap, the best thing you can do now is be completely honest and open about what has happened.
Gary says
Hello, I have just paid my final payment to my IVA after over six years. Today I had an email from the company to say that there is negative equity so there will be no extension and my case will proceed to closure. Also that I have made an over payment and they need my bank details. I have cancelled the mandate as advised by three people working for the company… just wondering why I would have an overpayment refund and why this would not go to my creditors?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If your firm has collected one repayment too many, or has been collecting more than they should, then you should get a refund.
Gary says
Could this mean that my monthly payments were too high? I don’t want to rock the boat by asking how much will be refunded to me!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s pretty hard for me guess what has happened. You are either just going to have to accept whatever “refund” is offered, or you are going to have to ask why it happened / how is was calculated.
Paul says
Hello,
My partner finished her IVA in Feb 2015. That’s the date on the completion letter. Over 2 years ago. There is such conflicting information around regarding when she can move forward with mortgage applications. 6 years from start of IVA, 6 years after IVA completed, 3 years from completed IVA. These are all things we have been advised recently. We are trying to get a mortgage and seems to be very difficult. Dont really want to use an adverse credit lender. She was refused flat by Halifax and although they will not release reason why ( this is frustrating and surely very counter productive from the system ) we think likely because one of her debts within the IVA was with Lloyds. Will she EVER be able to get a mortgage with a Lloyds group lender? Will she ever be completely free of this history? Do Lenders use other methods of credit searching other than Experian, Equifax and Call Credit? There is no trace of her IVA on any of these reports now ( we had the last one removed from Equifax 2 weeks ago ). Obviously we have to be careful not to stamp our credit reports with too many applications so finding this process so tricky and need some solid information. Any help would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance. P
Sara (Debt Camel) says
She can reasonably plan to get a mortgage 6 years after the IVA started, provided that the IVA has ended. So if she ended her IVA early or after 5 years, this means waiting until the IVA marker goes from her credit record 6 years after it started. If her IVA ended after 7 years say, then she can apply 3 months later when her credit record is clean.
Any mortgage lender is likely to look at their own internal records. There is no time limit on how long they can keep these for. You should avoid applying to anyone in the Lloyds group as a result.
Other mortgage lenders may also reject you. You may be asked on the application if you have ever been bankrupt or in an IVA. To avoid these problems, I suggest going to a broker that specialises in post IVA mortgages. You should be able to get a mortgage at an OK rate, it’s just a question of knowing who to apply to.
Paul says
Thanks for the quick response Sara.
We dont really want to use an IVA specialist lender, their rates would be double the high-street at about 3%.
Do you know if there is an easy to read comparison list for lending criteria for all highstreet banks and building society’s?
I want to know who we should concentrate on contacting and who we should avoid. I already know about Lloyds banking group. Do you happen to know if TSB are still connected to them?
Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you can try talking to a non specialist broker, but if they don’t seem clued-up about IVAS, go to someone else. You need to know what banks current policies are. They change. And I am not aware of any comparison list for this sort of thing. This is what brokers are there for, they should know the current market.
Paul says
Thanks again Sara.
Our current experience with 3 different advisers has not been great. Like I said initially there seems to be such conflicting information coming from each person. At the moment I feel like I am doing their job for them. It would seem that depending on who I speak to we can get a mortgage no problem as the IVA start date was in 2009 and then we are told that most will not lend until 3 years after the IVA finished and I also read that you have to wait 6 years after in some cases.
(Big Sigh)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is why I am suggesting you speak to a specialist. Sorry.
Jonathan Lindley says
Hi. I’ve completed my IVA over 2 years ago. My credit score is now showing very high on all the credit reference agencies and there’s no indication if the IVA on there either. I am now looking to get a 1st time mortgage. Am I wasting my time? Will the IVA record be lurking on a hard record somewhere? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The IVA will still be showing on the internal records of the creditors in the IVA – so make sure you don’t apply for a mortgage to Halifax if you had a debt with Lloyds.
You may be asked on a mortgage application if you have ever been insolvent (YES) or had an IVA (YES). It’s best to go through a broker, not direct to a lender, because of this.
Good luck – you should be fine if you pick the right lender!
Jonathan Lindley says
Thanks. I’m looking at Nationwide who I’ve had no previous dealings with. They ask if I have entered into an IVA in the last 6 years. Obviously I haven’t 😁
Robert Roberts says
I’m into 8 years of my IVA I’ve had my equity release carried out and have 4 payments left to the end. I notified the IVA about loosing 200 a month tax credits and a further £200 a month DLA. £400 plus in total.
This was notified back back in Feb 2017 to e IVA company this was inevitable due to my claim being transferred from DLA to PIP.
A family member offered me the money to make final up to December 2017. The IVA company said I could not offer this payment as I would be in breech of my contract IVA ??????.
I now have official documents having saying benifits have been withdrawn due to new rule changes of PIP. I except these benifits have stopped and exceeded the appeal systemn of DWP and HM custom & Revenue. Working Tax Credits.
I am now over £400 less in monthly income. I work 32 hours a week.
Why did the IVA company not allow me to make final payment back in Feb 2017.
Can I make the four months remaining payment today if I can get help from a family member to end my IVA.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You couldn’t just make a final payment of all the amounts back in Feb 17 – the IVA form would have had to get your creditors to agree to a variation. I don’t know why your IVA firm didn’t propose this.
the same applies now. As it will usually take a couple of months to get a variation through, there doesn’t seem much point. Why not just the money from your family moment to make the remaining 4 monthly payments and let the IVA end normally?
James says
I am going into the final year of my IVA and at the end of this my IVA supervisor told me that I will have to look at the possibility of a re-mortgage. Will I still have to do this as due to my additional payments over the last four years from overtime I will have repaid 100% of my debt to the IVA company?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to ask your IVA company about the details of your numbers. You can never pay more than the full value of your debts plus the IVA fees (you need to know what they are) plus sometime statutory interest on your debts at 8% (but some IVAs don’t include this so you need to know if yours does.)