It has long been standard practice for creditors to require of a debtor who owns property and who enters into an Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) with them that he or she should take steps to release some part or even all of the equity in that property and to contribute all or some of the proceeds into the IVA.
(more…)If you’re considering going for an IVA, you need to be sure that you understand its implications in both the short and long term. In the right circumstances, a successful IVA can not only handle your immediate debt problems, but can put you in a position to work towards real financial stability in the future.
(more…)When you have debts that you cannot meet the payments for, there are a number of options you can explore. Individual Voluntary Arrangements are a useful measure in helping people to get their finances under control, but there are situations in which an IVA is not possible or is not preferable for some reason.
(more…)The point of an IVA is to give people who cannot meet their debt payments a way to settle those debts within the framework of a legal contract. If you have personal unsecured debt that is no longer within your control, then an IVA may keep you from becoming bankrupt.
(more…)There are various legal processes that will necessarily be carried out if you attempt to use an Individual Voluntary Arrangement. Only certain professionals can carry these out within the law, as an IVA is a legal contract between you and your creditors. Insolvency Practitioners are the only professionals who are actually licensed to carry out the activities involved in both setting up and administering an IVA.
(more…)If a creditor is worried that an unsecured debt is not being repaid by a particular debtor as it falls due, one option that the creditor may consider is to seek to change the nature or status of the debt from being unsecured to being secured. In other words the creditor may take legal steps to have a lawful claim on the debtor’s assets up to the value of the unpaid and unsecured debt. This process involves asking the Court to make a Charging Order against the debtor’s property. Such property is frequently the debtor’s home but it could be any of the debtor’s assets.
(more…)Weathering the Financial Winter Ahead in Ireland and the UK
The winter of 2011 lies ahead and if the last two winters are anything to go by then it’s hard to be optimistic this year. If we don’t learn from the past, it is said that we are doomed to repeat it so let us see what we should do this coming winter.
(more…)The term ‘Beneficial Interest’ is used to describe the equity in or value of a property which is held by the owner or part owner of that property. Usually (but not always) a husband and wife (or indeed cohabiting persons) will each own 50% of equity in or value of the marital home.
(more…)There are some advantages to consolidating your debts into one consolidation loan. For many people it is enticing to have to make just one monthly payment instead of many. Making multiple payments to a variety of creditors in respect of a number of different accounts is time consuming, particularly when funds are tight and there is not enough money to go around. You have to decide which debts are ‘priority’ ones. These you must pay. For the rest you simply have to make do with whatever you can afford to pay, even if in some cases it is less than the contractual amount that you should be paying.
(more…)For anybody who finds themselves to be insolvent and who then offers proposals to their creditors for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), it’s an occasion of great satisfaction and sometimes unbridled joy on the day of the Meeting of Creditors (MOC), when they learn that their IVA has been accepted by their creditors. They can now look forward to being debt free in a reasonable period of time. No more aggressive debt collectors, no more threatening or abusive phone calls from creditors, no more reminder bills, endless invoices or annoying statements of account and no more threats of legal action. Visits from bailiffs are a thing of the past.
(more…)The insolvent debtor who offers a proposal for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) to his or her (unsecured) creditors is really in the lap of the gods. This is because the creditors have all the power in the matter and can choose to accept the proposal as it stands, to reject it out of hand or to ask for changes to the proposal which usually have the effect of costing the debtor more than he or she intended to offer.
(more…)In these straitened times it is dangerous to ignore debt. Just like any personal, domestic, social, relationship, marital or business problem, the first and best thing to do is to face up to the issue.
(more…)Most Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) last for sixty months and entail making monthly payments over that time. The IVA proposal contains the debtor’s initial offer of monthly repayments to creditors. These payments may be increased by creditors, with the debtor’s agreement before the IVA commences, that is at the Meeting of Creditors (MOC).
(more…)Let’s face it. If in this day and age you want a structured way out of your personal insolvency in the UK, one that is tightly controlled by laws and regulations, you will probably have to utilize one of the big two solutions, bankruptcy or an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA).
(more…)Deciding what solution to go for is a serious business for the insolvent debtor. The usual choices are Bankruptcy, often described as the last resort option, an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), seen as a relatively new solution although IVAs have actually been about for over twenty five years now and a Debt Management Plan.
(more…)Make no mistake about it. Being in a Debt Management Plan is no cakewalk. There are some distinct benefits but there are also some downsides. However, because a Debt Management Plan is quite informal and flexible, you can pull out of it at any time if a better solution to your debt problems presents itself. Entering a Debt Management Plan is a bit like dipping your toe in the waters of insolvency solutions without totally committing yourself to sticking to a rigid financial path.
(more…)A joint debt is created when two or more people borrow money from the same lender at the same time under a joint contract. Most joint debts are taken out by just two people such as a married couple, a co-habiting couple, a parent and an adult child, two adult siblings, two business people who have set up as a formal business partnership or indeed any two consenting adults who have something in common, be it family, personal or business. The joint loan imposes contractual obligations on each of the joint borrowers and this is part of the reason that lenders like to have joint signatories on funds that they lend.
(more…)Oscar Wilde’s humorous claim that a man who pays his bills on time is soon forgotten is probably just as true today as it was in his lifetime. Wilde also stated tongue in cheek that it was only by not paying one’s bills that one could hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes.
(more…)The trouble with high finance is that it hides its secrets in obscure and confusing language, often making simple matters unnecessarily complex. This is an attempt to keep everything about a Debt Management Plan, a DMP as it is known, short, sweet and simple. You may not like all aspects of DMPs but given that in the UK and Ireland it is the process which is probably most widely used by ordinary people who are struggling to pay their debts as they fall due, it is worth while getting to know its ins and outs.
(more…)The title of this piece might suggest that if you know how to go about it, you might be able to retain the full amount of any redundancy lump sum you receive if you are unfortunate enough to lose your job while in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement.
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