For those who have money problems and believe that you may be insolvent, you may want to understand about an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, frequently known as an IVA, and how it could possibly help you. Being aware of what an IVA is and understanding the IVA solution makes it easier if you need to decide if you should participate in this process or try some other sort of potential cure for your monetary hardship.
We shall look at some of the more frequently asked questions as well as provide limited answers. Even if an IVA is not for you, at the very least you should have a superior information about one of the most widely used choices for personal insolvency and be able to talk to friends or colleagues who might be facing debt difficulties of a more severe nature compared to yours.
Should you have debts and can’t afford to make the agreed repayments to your lenders you may nevertheless desire to reach a binding agreement with them to pay back what you can afford. Provided that you have a regular income, an IVA might help you to arrive at such an settlement and to pay back some of your financial obligations in a sensible and fixed amount of time. At the end of that time period, an IVA permits you to write off the rest of your debts, as long as you have honored the conditions of the IVA, as agreed upon by you with your creditors at the start. These outstanding debts are presumed to have been discharged.
You might or might not have assets like a property or a car. If you do you will also reach agreement with your lenders how these resources should be managed in the context of your IVA. You won’t necessarily lose such assets, however, you might have to make some contribution to your IVA in respect of your interest in them, for instance the equity in your house. The majority of people participating in an IVA can continue to keep control and ownership of such resources.
An IVA then is a formal and binding arrangement to repay a percentage of your debt during a specific timeframe – commonly five years, but it can be for a shorter interval. An IVA is binding on all parties to the agreement, namely both you and your lenders. Here are a few of the commonly asked questions.
Must I incorporate all of my debts in my IVA proposal? Apart from your secured obligations for example your mortgage or your vehicle HP, all unsecured debts must be included in your proposal for an IVA.
Just what are unsecured debts? Credit cards, loans, current accounts, store cards, borrowings from friends or family, arrears on utility bills such as telephone, gas or electricity, self assessment tax arrears and arrears on local authority or council tax and water charges are all examples of unsecured financial obligations.
Must all of my creditors agree to accept my IVA offer? No. Every one of your unsecured lenders have the right to vote on your proposal. In practice, not all lenders exercise this right to vote. Of those unsecured creditors that do choose to vote, a minimum of 75% of them, as measured by the value of your debts to them, must accept your offer for an IVA to come into being. One way to think of it is that each pound of debt is the same as one vote and so the creditor to whom you owe the most money has the greatest voting power.
How about unsecured creditors who do not vote? They are nevertheless bound by the decision taken by the creditors who did exercise their right to vote.
What about the IVA being binding? All agreed on IVAs are registered with the authorities. The primary legislation governing the formation and conduct of IVAs is contained in the Insolvency Act (1986) in addition to some more recent laws.
Just how much will I pay on a monthly basis once my IVA starts off? No more than what you can manage to pay for. An income and expenditure statement is prepared and your monthly instalment will generally be the difference between your income (comprised of what you get paid in your employment together with any additional income you receive for example pensions, dividends and benefits) and your expenditure (consisting of your day to day cost of living, including home loan and vehicle HP payments and the living expenses of any dependents you might have such as your family). That difference is usually known as your disposable income or your DI.
How long must I need to make these monthly payments into my IVA? The typical duration for an IVA is five years or sixty months. However, it could be shorter than that if extra money should come to be offered. For example, if you should re-mortgage your home, with the prior acceptance of your unsecured lenders, thereby releasing an equity lump sum, and invest some or all of this lump sum to your IVA, creditors could possibly agree to reduce the duration of the IVA, making it possible to be debt-free in a diminished interval.
What about my mortgage or car HP payments? You still pay these directly to your secured creditors and they are allowable expenditure items on your income and expenditure statement.
What about the management costs I’d incur in an IVA? All the costs are taken from the monthly payments you are making into your IVA and these will certainly have been agreed in advance with your creditors. You need to pay nothing more yourself.
Can I get an estimate of those administration expenses? You can do better than get an quote. Any reputable supplier of insolvency services, the people who assist you in compiling your IVA offer, will ensure that a breakdown of the costs of the IVA are contained in the proposal itself and these will usually be set over the duration of the IVA. So, you will understand in advance precisely what the fees of the system will be over the full timeframe.
How can I get hold of advice on an IVA and what will it cost me? There are many companies furnishing insolvency services on a commercial basis and an important part of that service is to provide free primary professional advice. Additionally, there are some not for profit companies for example CCCS that are funded by creditors who can also offer free advice. If you choose to offer an IVA to your lenders, you are obliged for legal reasons to use the services of a professional and certified Insolvency Practitioner (IP) in producing the IVA offer and calling the meeting of creditors that will make the decision to agree to it or reject it. The IP who works for you up to and including the stage of the meeting of creditors has the title of Nominee. When your IVA is approved by your creditors, it is supervised and managed by your IP also,and who now has the title of Supervisor. Your IP (whether in the role of Nominee or Supervisor) charges no fees and receives no income whatsoever till the IVA has been accepted by your creditors. The IP’s fees then come out of the monthly payments you have consented to make into your IVA. If your creditors do not agree to your IVA proposal, your IP receives no fees at all and you, the borrower, have nothing to pay.
What other financial remedies could I look at? The leading alternative options typically taken into consideration by people with personal financial troubles are to obtain a debt consolidation loan or to get into a debt management plan or to go bankrupt or in certain instances to obtain financial aid from a family member. It may even be possible to manage your financial issues a little differently and discover that you aren’t insolvent in fact. In that position you could be in a position to maintain your own financial issues by yourself.
How Do I get hold of guidance on all of my solutions and how do I set about doing this? A good starting point is to call several dependable companies who offer personal insolvency services (in order to be certain that you’re obtaining the best advice and that that help and advice is consistent). Alternatively you might call one of the charitable free of charge advice organizations for example the CCCS or a local CAB office. It’s not necessary to pay anything to get advice on your alternatives. You will need to give full details of your personal financial circumstances and following your consultation you will have a considerably clearer idea of what to do next. You may need a few sessions to get to that stage. Once you’re satisfied that you know and understand your choices, you are still free to leave, with the benefit of the counsel. You don’t need to to commit to anything at all.
