IVA

An Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) is only available to people who live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. There is a similar process available if you live in Scotland (Scottish Trust Deed). To apply for an IVA you must have unsecured debts of over £15,000 with three or more creditors and be in full time employment. This is a legally binding agreement, which must be accepted by your creditors during a formal meeting and must be administered by a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner. After a 5 year commitment, any remaining debts are written off and, as such, have become popular in recent years. However, more recently there appears increasing reluctance on the part of creditors to accept these plans and they are becoming more difficult to arrange.

The benefits of an IVA are:

• All pressure from your creditors is removed.
• You will not pay any fees directly.
• You will only repay what you can reasonably afford.
• Interest and penalty charges will be frozen.
• We will deal with all correspondence and queries from your creditors.
• You will make only one affordable monthly repayment.

At the end of the IVA, which is usually a 5 year period, you will be completely debt free and ready to start afresh financially.