An Individual Voluntary Arrangement or IVA is a formally agreed debt management arrangement between personal debtors and creditors.
The basic requirement for eligibility to consider an IVA are :-
- unsecured debts of over £12,000,00.
- 2 or more creditors
- disposable income of at least £120.00 a month after payment of household bills and other costs of living.
A typical IVA will be for a term of 5 years and may result in creditors agreeing to write off more than 50% of debts on the basis the debtor fully complies with the terms of the Agreement.
It is important to be aware that in some respects an IVA is not all that dissimilar to bankruptcy, in the sense that it will be recorded on a public register and will impact on credit ratings whilst in operation and for at least a year after it has ended, even where it has been fully complied with.
Process
As with a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), the essential process is for the debtor to submit a detailed proposal to creditors relating to income, assets and expenditure. The creditors will then consider whether it makes more sense for them to accept the terms offered or to make a counter offer or to reject the proposal, in which case they may either wait for the debtor’s financial position to potentially improve before taking action or one or more of them may bankrupt the debtor.
For an IVA to become binding on creditors it must be accepted by creditors owed more than 75% of the unsecured debt.
Failure to comply with the terms of a concluded IVA may well result in further action by creditors so a debtor ought to be as confident as possible that he or she will be able to comply in reality.
The obvious main advantage of an IVA is avoiding bankruptcy which can have severe repercussions on home ownership, ability to obtain credit on a long term basis and in many other ways. For some people however, bankruptcy may be the only option and may be preferable as under English law, save for exceptional circumstances, the bankruptcy will last for 1 year and all debts will be cleared by the bankruptcy whether paid or not.
Our services
We can assist whether you are a creditor or a debtor. For debtors, we have considerable experience of advising on available options, where appropriate preparing an IVA proposal and negotiating it. For creditors, we advise on IVA proposals made, liaise and negotiate with other creditors and can assist where an IVA has been breached.
Get in touch with us to discuss your situation and requirements.
Our team of highly experienced Debt Management experts can offer help and advice on many personal debt solutions including Debt Management Plans, IVAs and Bankruptcy so if you are experiencing financial problems and are struggling to repay your debts why not give us a call today to find out how we can help you get your life back on track.
