Where the debtor suffers a reduction in disposable income during the life of the IVA, the supervisor may exercise his or her discretion to reduce monthly contributions by up to 15%, provided this is clearly stated in the terms of the original IVA proposal and provided the reduction in disposable income is verified. If this discretion is exercised, creditors are informed of the decision in the first annual report following the reduction in contributions.

Where the debtor enjoys a substantial increase in income arising from overtime, bonus payment or commission payment which was not included in the original calculation of disposable income, there is an obligation to disclose this fact to the supervisor of the IVA and to adjust the monthly contributions appropriately.

Losing one’s job when in an IVA can be worrying for the debtor and his or her family. If there is a real prospect of gaining new employment within a reasonable period of time, the debtor can seek to obtain the agreement of creditors to allow a payments break, sometimes also called a payments holiday or a payments freeze.

It seems like a contradiction in terms to use the word ‘savings’ in the context of an IVA. However, not only is it possible to save in an IVA it is often essential! The truth is that most IVAs are based on monthly contributions for a term of five years, more or less.

If you are insolvent and are considering entering into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) you may be concerned that your partner, who may be unaware of your financial difficulties, will learn of your difficulties.

If you think that you may be insolvent but are unsure what to do about it here is a simple five step process that describes what you will need to do if you are to enter into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA).

The most obvious reasons why creditors reject some proposals for IVAs include (in the case of HMRC) non-compliance by the debtor (such as recurrent failures to make S/E returns); preferential treatment by the debtor of some creditors to the detriment of other creditors; recent debts incurred by the debtor with a relatively new creditor; the likelihood of substantially higher returns for creditors if the debtor was to enter a DMP rather than an IVA, particularly if debts could be repaid in full in a DMP in ten years or less. There are some less obvious reasons.

The first thing that creditors look for in an IVA proposal is the truth. They expect the debtor to be open, frank and honest. After all it is their money which is at stake and if a debtor is seeking their agreement to write off a large percentage of their liabilities via an IVA, the least they expect to see in the proposal is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Firms which offer insolvency services such as Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) or other financial solutions do so because it is a business and because they have an expectation of making a profit from the business. If they do not make a profit, ultimately they go out of business. In the last two years in particular, a number of IVA providers have ceased to trade for this very reason.

If you have personal unsecured debt that you are considering using an IVA for, you should bear in mind that any assets that you have may be incorporated into the IVA.

Succeeding in having your IVA approved by creditors is an occasion of great satisfaction and sometimes unbridled joy on the day of the Meeting of Creditors (MOC). You can look forward to being debt free in a reasonable period of time. No more debt collectors, no more phone calls from creditors, no more bills, invoices or statements of account and no more threats of legal action. Visits from bailiffs are a thing of the past.

If you’re considering trying to use an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, there are a number of things that will happen initially. You will need to consult an Insolvency Practitioner, who will advise you, and who will be responsible for taking the IVA forward.

An IVA is a professional agreement between you and your unsecured creditors to pay back some of your debts over a defined time frame – normally five years, but it could be for a lesser period.

Recently published statistics estimate that the cost of rearing a kid from birth to twenty one years old may very well be up to £200,000. We will assume that you are in an IVA and turn out to be pregnant. The prospect of attempting to continue your IVA during your pregnancy and especially after the birth of your child might be a problematic one. The undoubted happiness of getting a new baby has got to be tempered with the inescapable fact that monetary challenges may very well escalate. Nevertheless, plenty of consumers in IVAs have skillfully overcome the difficulties presented in these particular situations.

Most of us have personal money worries and want to do something about them. We know that there are solutions out there. The problem we have is that while we know that we need to do something, we don’t know where to begin and some of us do nothing. There are four principal options available which should always be considered. There are further options also but we will not consider these for the moment. 

It has long been standard practice for creditors to require some part of equity in property to be released and contributed by debtors who own such property and who enter into Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs). The debtor may already have anticipated this requirement and addressed any equity in their property in the IVA proposal. One of the benefits of an IVA is that the debtor does not usually lose their home which they will almost certainly do in Bankruptcy.

Fear of failure inhibits many people from taking action to address a problem. People who find themselves insolvent can baulk at entering an Individual Voluntary Arrangement for fear that they will fail to make it work and that they will be worse off than before. If you do take the plunge what is it like and what happens? Once you enter into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement with your creditors you receive a copy of what is called the Chairman’s Report of the Meeting of Creditors.

Recently published figures estimate that the cost of rearing a child from birth to twenty one years of age can be up to £200,000. Let us suppose that you are in an IVA and become pregnant.

IVA Agreement

When you enter into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), you are making a formal agreement with your unsecured creditors to repay a portion of your debt over a limited period of time – in most cases the term is five years, but it can be shorter, when for example you are offering a ‘one-off’ lump sum payment. The lump sum could come from the sale of property or be funds provided to you by your friends or family specifically to enable you to settle your debts. However, most IVAs are based on monthly payments coming from your disposable income for a period of five years.