If it's getting hard or impossible to afford your IVA , you may wonder what your other alternatives are. If you don't own a house and your debts are under £20,000 you may qualify for a Debt Relief Order (DRO). Your IVA may have been sensible when it was started, but a change in circumstances (pay drop? rent increase? new baby? separation?) may now be making it hard to afford the payments. Or … [Read more...]
Articles about what happens in an IVA
This page, and the following ones, list all Debt Camel articles about the practical aspects of IVA - from what happens at your first annual review to what you can expect after you make your last payment.
Also read Debt Camel's Guide to IVAs which gives an overview for anyone thinking of starting an IVA. IVAs are great options for some people, but they are too often "sold" as an easy, affordable option to people who have better alternatives for sorting out their debts. Do your research!
If you are interested in debt policy and news, look at the IVA News Archive.
Coronavirus – new rules to help people in IVAs
On April 17, the Insolvency Service published Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guidance for the Straightforward Consumer IVA Protocol. This guidance allows for greater flexibility to be applied to IVAs where the borrower has problems because of Coronavirus. An IVA firm can always go back to your creditors and ask them to approve changes to your IVA. This is called "a variation" but it can be a slow … [Read more...]
Aperture – no longer taking new IVAs
Aperture has told many debt advisers it will not take referrals for Individual Voluntary Arrangements after the end of June 2019. The debt advice firms received an email saying: I write to inform you that Aperture Debt Solutions LLP has recently taken the decision to suspend our client acquisition strategy in the IVA sector; as such, we will be unable to deal with your client referrals with … [Read more...]
Which is better a DRO or an IVA? There is a very simple answer!
Everyone has heard of bankruptcy, but Debt Relief Orders (DROs) and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) are less well known. Here is a comparison of IVAs and DROs, so you can see would be better for you. DROs and IVAs were the two most common types of personal insolvency in England and Wales in 2019. Some choices between debt solutions are genuinely hard. When I wrote … [Read more...]
You both have debts – but may need different debt solutions
You both have debts, you both know it's time to tackle them and you want to do this together. But if one of you has a lot more debt, or a much larger income, or you own different assets, you don't have to have the same debt solution. A good debt adviser will help you look at what option each of you needs to get the best result for your family going forward. This article looks at some of … [Read more...]
What happens in an IVA if I am made redundant?
UPDATE - CORONAVIRUS See Coronavirus – new rules to help people in IVAs for the extra help available. Losing your job can be a big problem for your IVA unless you can get a new job quickly. Having redundancy pay can help through this period - but some of your redundancy pay may have to be paid into your IVA. Here I'll describe what the 2016 IVA protocol Individual Voluntary … [Read more...]
How long do IVAs last? And how many fail?
If you are thinking of starting an IVA, you will hear that IVAs last for five years, sometimes six. But find out the facts - as that is misleading. The IVAs may have been expected to last for five or six years at the beginning, but payment breaks and extensions mean that many last for much longer. The Insolvency Service's IVA Outcomes - 2018 has data about how many years IVAs usually last … [Read more...]
“Should I get an IVA if I am going to move soon?”
A reader asked whether an IVA was suitable for her. As part of that she said: I am hoping to move in with a new partner later this year. I would have to pay more rent and bills but I would have lower petrol costs as he lives very close to my work. It is usually a bad idea to set up an IVA when you expect your living costs to change a lot in the near future and it is not certain what they will … [Read more...]
“What will happen at my IVA annual review?”
A reader asked: I’m worried about my first IVA annual review. How much detail will they go into? I've found the year tough with a few car problems. I switched gas and electric to try to save money but it hasn't helped much. This is one of the many IVA issues where I have to start by saying that there is no definitive answer for everyone. It depends on the terms of your IVA, your IVA firm, your … [Read more...]
Making bankruptcy look more scary than it is
It's natural to feel worried about bankruptcy, but some websites set out to make it sound a lot worse than it is. Some of what they say is simply wrong. Other bits may be right but they leave out important facts, so the issue sounds more difficult than it is in practice. And it's common for problems associated with bankruptcy to be listed in detail, but very similar points … [Read more...]
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