Iva's = Are They A Good Thing??

[jaylee15]

I currently have an IVA which started August 2006, I currently pay £293 and in year 4 and 5 i will be paying that plus an additional £212 because the pyt on my car will have finished the HP pyts. Not sure i'm looking forward to that year! - My question is - do you think I did the right thing?, I am paying the amounts monthly( just!) but as my debt was about £40k I panicked and I do my IVA through Debt Free Direct - I must say I sometimes still get letters from 2 certain companies who say they have not recieved anything since i set up the IVA ( which i find strange). but i ignore them to be honest. DFD tell me to send the letters into them and they will deal them direct.

At the time it seemed like the only thing available for me and I am dying for the 5 years to finish, I havnt had any negetive things from the company so far, a couple of times i was unable to pay the full amount that month and informed them and paid half one month and half the other( in addition to the £212 payment) and they were fine with that, but i've heard some negative press regarding IVA'S and its scaring me a bit, I'm wondering about the company, does anybody else deal with this company?

[blind-as-a-bat]

No but i have seen plenty of bad reports about them im afraid, sorry

As for whether you should have entered int it in the first place is a tough one, but if you dont own your own property and have no assets of great vlue then the answer is usually no

If you are struggling to meet the repaymants now then im afraid you are following the pattern of many failed IVA,s, as it will only take a series of minour problems somewhere down the line that may impact on your income and your in trouble

You should never enter an IVA unless you can agree a figure that allows a realistic buffer zone between your income and the payment, this seldom happens as the IVA compay over commits you to get the buisnes and the IVA inevetably fails within the first 12-24 months

[jaylee15]

Thanks for that - Oh dear, sounds all doom and gloom! - I am currently finding the pyt "ok" - certainly better than I was paying out initially separately to all my creditors, however, August will be 2 years since doing it and as long as the pyts dont change ( I know it will in Year 4, they have informed me that I will have finished paying for my car on HP then so those pyts will, then be going over to them instead).
Some companies still write and phone despite being named on the IVA, and I havn't recieved any statements from the company yet saying how my £293 is broken down to which companies, thats a bit of a worry because i dont know who is being paid, but I shall tread gingerly on and hopefully things will stay on track.

Has anybody else had any dealings with Debt Free Direct??

[blind-as-a-bat]

I now it sounded doom and gloom but im afraid i have seen too many failed IVA,s in the past 12 months on the BR board at MSE for the reasons i stated.

Im not 100% on this but if i understand it right your creditors wll not see penny until the 'Pot' has enough to cover the companys 'Bill' for adminestering the IVA in it so this is why you may get letters, now depending on how much that fee is you may not have reached that point hence the letters.

I will take a wild guess that you have no idea how much that 'fee' is?

[jaylee15]

Please forgive my ignorance - but " BR board at MSE"?? not sure what that is?

Yes, you are right I dont know what the fee is! and I guess there is no way of "getting out" as I have signed their relevant forms.
Am i withing my rights to request this information? as in ask how much i have paid in so far and what the actual fees are and whether they have a "pot" so to speak?

[blind-as-a-bat]

Sorry its Bankruptcy & Living With It on another board simaler to this called monesavingexpert.com(MSE for short)

I would think you have te right to some sort of statemant but dont know for sure.

I have seen posts of others 'changeing' IVA comapanys but not sure of the implications of his. You may find you lose all the money paid in so far if you can do this and have to start again.

There are a couple of the debt charaties that do there own or can help oganise IVA,s, it may be worth speaking to them to find out about the possibilaty and implications of changing

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) - Tel: 0800 138 1111 - www.cccs.co.uk
Payplan - Tel: 0800 917 7823. - www.payplan.co.uk

[jaylee15]

Thank you for your advice, I shall certainly follow this through

[sequenci]

if a creditor is named on an IVA they are legally bound not to chase you whilst the IVA is in place. I would consider a serious complaint about their actions straight away.

[jaylee15]

Thank you for that,I will take that on board. When ever I tell the company that these companies are still writing me and calling me, they tell me to send their letters through to them and they will deal with them, which is what I have been doing.
I just wish I knew about S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) then I would have gone down that avenue in the first instance, then weighed up what my options would be. I guess I'm stuck with this for now!

[tomterm8]

I would also complain through Financial Ombudsman and to trading standards.

while there are many failed IVA's, in a board like MSE Bankruptcy & Living with it you do tend to see only the failures and not the successes. (note: although I say that, it's very very rare for me to actually advise someone to go through an IVA).

Frankly, if you are 2 years in, there is only another 3 to go, so if you can hold out then I would Certainly, you will not get any money returned if you give up now.

Tom.

[jaylee15]

Tom, thank you for that.
I will persevere with it as long as they dont suddenly up the monthly payments, I will keep going.
And for the ones that still write and phone I will look to make a complaint about them. Theres nothing worse than being scared to answer your own phone or open your own letters! - both of which I've been through frequently!!

[fermi]

I must admit I'm not a big fan of IVA's and I've heard some bad things about DFD. But IVA's can be suitable in some circumstances as long as the repayments are at a realistic level and allow some room for manoeuvre in your budget.

However, as others here have implied, an IVA is a legal and binding form of Insolvency, and the creditors are just as bound by it as you are once the IVA is approved.

Creditors should not be hassling you for payments, and it is the job of the IVA company/IP/supervisor to arrange the distribution of any payments to them. If a creditor has any problem, then that must be taken up with DFD rather than you.

As sequenci and tomterm8 suggest, make a few complaints to the appropriate organisations.

[jaylee15]

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY,
i WILL MAKE A COMPLAINT REGARDING HASSLING FROM OTHER COMPANIES NAMED ON THE IVA AND IN THE MEAN TIME I WILL CARRY ON, FINGERS CROSSED, AT THE MOMENT THINGS ARE OK AS I SAID BEFORE AS LONG AS THEY DONT HIKE UP THE MONTHLY PYTS, I AM MANAGING, JUST!!

[blind-as-a-bat]

I wish you all the best jaylee15 and im sure you can make it but i would start keeping a closer eye on DFD as they are plainly just in it for the money and arnt protecting you as the should.

Most of my posts where negative but i not anti IVA, they are a dam good alternative if administered and entered into in the correct way and situation, its just a shame there are so many money grabbers misuseing them to make a quick buck

The sooner the powers that be bring in tighter regulations on this the sooner it will become the better option to bankruptcy that it was meant to be

[jaylee15]

THANK YOU BLIND-AS-A-BAT,
YOU ARE RIGHT, I WILL CERTAINLY BE KEEPING AN EYE, AS YOU SAY ITS MORE ABOUT GETTING THE MONEY FOR THESE COMPANIES FIRST BEFORE ANY THING ELSE, AS LONG AS I DONT GET TRAMPLED BY THEM I'LL KEEP GOING!! - THANKS

[pigsic]

my partner entered an iva a year ago in may coming he is with a company called blair endesby and he pays £280 a month and we just managin hope they dont put it up else dont know what will do but i can honestly say we have had no problems