Arrears on my IVA

[Lucy Betts]

Hi
I have been contacted today by my IVA administrator and told that I owe over £2000 in arrears on my IVA.
I make my monthly payments every month and speak to my IVA provider most months and yet this is the first that they have told me about any arrears on my account. They have advised that my payments should have gone up in Oct 2020 but as they had not increased I have accrued these arrears. They have said that my monthly payments need to almost double to clear these arrears and that it was all laid out in my original IVA Agreement that my payments would increase at this time.
No-one from my IVA provider contacted me in Oct 2020 to tell me to increase my payments and I couldn't even if I wanted to as I do not have sufficient income. Surely someone should have told me back in Oct 2020 not allowed the arrears to accumulate to over £2000? Apparently it is all due to an error with their systems that has only just come to light.
What can I do, I cannot afford to double my payments each month?

[Foggy]

First you need to see if you agree that this increase should have happened. From the wording of your post this was a foreseeable increase mentioned in your proposal ( Car HP stopped or something like that ). Yes, they should have reminded you, but, at the end of the day it is your IVA and your responsibility to carry out the agreed terms.

As they have admitted some culpability I would have thought they would be more helpful in recovering the arrears. Maybe they could extend the term of the IVA by enough extra payments to cover the money owed, rather than expecting it to be paid by the end of the original term.

[SteveUK]

Seems to me they are admitting that your IVA payments weren't right anyway. If they say you can afford to pay double they are saying you could have afforded to pay twice as much anyway. One way or another they are in the wrong.

[luluj]

I agree with foggy. Starting point is your proposal and creditors agreement ... was the increase in payments expected ?

I would suggest you offer to extend your term so you can pay this amount back over a longer period and ask for a full income and expenditure check to ensure your payments are set correctly.

[Lucy Betts]

Hi
I have now had another conversation with my IP and it turns out that although I had notified them of a change of address over five years ago, they did not have this on my file and have been sending all correspondence to my previous address.
This only came to light when I asked for a written statement of my IVA to be sent to me and they asked me to confirm my address. I had already confirmed this as part of the security check at the start of the call but when asked to confirm it they said that that was not the address they had on file for me.
They have agreed to look at my income and outgoings to see if I can afford the increased payments but I am in receipt of PIP due to being disabled now, can this be counted as income?
This IVA has been going on for what feels like forever (over five years) and I just want it to be resolved.

[kallis3]

PIP is classed as income but can usually be offset against your needs. Hopefully this will be sorted in your favour and that your IP has sorted out the communication problems. Surprised they never contacted you via email as they obviously never had a reply to any written correspondence.