we are still quite new to the whole iva (only 3 months in), my husband received a paye rebate in the second month which we were told would be assessed as employment income and when i asked whether payment would need to be made (as well above our 10% allowance) our relationship manager told us this would be reviewed as part of 6 month review and then any monies payable would need to be settled then - fine.
so in order to make sure we had the funds i set up an excel working to calculate our 10% allowance allowing us to be prepared for any extra payments that we would need to make. it then came to my attention that one month in the year my hubby would be paid twice (he is paid 4 weekly).
i tried to query this with my relationship manager only to find out she had left and we had not been told! so since then we have been passed from pillar to post and it appears that Freeman Jones may have messed up on my hubbys income and 10% allowance. I work in tax so know how to calculate net pay from gross, and then work to a weekly amount to 4 weekly pay etc. the calculations the advisor was giving me did not match back at all so I am now having to wait and see what they say.
has anyone else come up against this, i feel so disheartened about the whole things as we were beginning to have some comfort in the fact that our finances were actually being dealt with.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
I am also with FJ and at the very start of our IVA they gave me a figure and anything above has to be declared and shared like you we are told we can do this at the 6 month income review (we have been in nearly a year now). I have always found them very helpful and if you call and ask them to listen to how you have worked it out and correct you if you are wrong I am sure this will be fine. Also if you are in a joint IVA the 10% (I belive) is calculated on the household income (i.e. 1 lot of 10% - not 10 for his and 10 for yours).
Hope this helps?
Are you allowed to keep 50% of the rest (after the 10% disregard?)
within our iva we have the 10% allowance each (i am paid monthly and hubby 4 weekly) whatever is over the 10% we have to pay over 50% to FJ.
We have had a few mishaps along the way to be honest and it has only really come to light since I have got my head around everything (was in a bit of a bad place when we entered into it).
I am just worried that we are going to be in a worse off situation, i dont think that the change in our relationship manager has helped, when i asked when we will get a new one i was told a few weeks - wasnt very reassuring that i had to ask for contact details for someone to email etc in the mean time.
i suppose i will just have to wait and see what they say this week and i think i might pen an email detailing our journey through the iva and any of the areas that i am not too happy with just in case, if anything it might be a little theraputic!
I see, yours must have two lots of 10% because of the difference in pay dates I guess (although if you have had a change in manager it could be the reason for the mix up - perhaps they are working on the basis of a shared 10% if that makes sense?). We too have 10/50/50 for bonus and overtime but was not sure about tax rebates...at least you can keep a good amount of it then which is good!
I too keep a spreadsheet each month, find it really helpful and hopefully will help to avoid any nasty surprises.
It is a shame you are not having the best experience with them as I have always found their customer service to be excellent and our relationship manager is fantastic, hopefully when you are assigned a new one they will be able to clarify the issues for you. I think many companies don't have a relationship manager and they have all contact through the IP directly. I quite like the system but you could always contact your IP whilst waiting for a new relationship manager?
It gets easier, I remember our first few months were quite stressful whilst you get your head around everything but I also keep my own log of questions I have asked and answers given (uber-organised I know) which helps.
Is this the only problem you have had or have you had other concerns?
Hubby and I are in a slightly similar situation as hubby gets paid on the last Thursday of the month, thus a few times a year gets a five week month in his pay. I have queried this so many times with my IP office and have been given the same answer every time. This additional week which occurs a few times per year, gets treated as additional income. As we have Northern Rock as one of our creditors, we are disallowed the 10% grace before the 50/50 split, so we have to pay 50% of everything over and above the IVA allowance. My IP company takes 50% of this 5th week, which I have queried several times as I think it is unfair. It is not additional income, it is actually a week's wages, but they don't see it like this, so unfortunately we feel like we lose our massively on these weeks by having to pay 50% of a full week's wages over. They have suggested that my husband requests to be paid weekly, which is out of the question as the payroll is run monthly for all other staff. I am wondering whether the 13th month your hubby is paid will also be deemed as additional income and therefore after your initial 10% allowance, you may be required to pay 50% of this month's wages on the same basis as mine? Not sure and I don't want to cause unncessary alarm, so best to check with your IP when things settle down with the changeover. Maybe someone else on the forum has experienced this also??
Best of luck.
Kazzy x
There is light at the end of that dark tunnel. Promise.
Benny333 - i suppose I am just feeling pessimistic about it all - really hate waiting around for answers, I might contact the IP directly tomorrow.
Kezzy E - i think that is terrible! I hope to god they do not come back with that as a solution as I will most definitely disagree and fight my corner! If anything the error I have highlighted is due to FJ and I have actually let the know that we are earning more so technically we would have to pay more.
We have been told that hubby will have 10% allowance on a 4 weekly basis so i would assume the 13th payment would receive the same treatment and i would also assume that they cannot change our iva agreement as this was not included at the outset.
I may request that someone comes out to us and we deal with this in person as i fear the mistakes have been made due to numerous phone calls.
Your IVA should have taken into account that your husband is paid 4 weekly, and you should now bring this to their immediate attention so that the figures can be amended. This happened with one of my own clients recently, and he was honest enough to point this out as he had also been struggling to work out the basis of the 10% uplift calculations. You should expect your IVA payments to increase as a result.
Thanks for your posts. I am sorry that we didn't let you know that your relationship manager had moved on. As you would expect, this does sometimes happen, but the handover should be rather better than you have experienced. I know that you have now spoken to your new RM, Claire.
She is in the process of setting up a meeting so that we can run through all the details of your IVA face to face and ensure that we are all on the same page! She'll give you a buzz as soon as she has all the documents together - hopefully on Friday - to confirm this.
I hope this will help to put your mind at rest.
Ian
Last edited by Financial Wellness on Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Just a quick one to do with overtime..I have had some trouble with mine not declaring which is now all sorted..As i am not in a joint away its just in my name..does my partner need to pay in anything over 10% aswell like it states in my t & c's
I am no expert but would like to give advice based on my own personal experience...
No, if your partner is not part of the IVA then she does not have pay any of her overtime across - it's hers to do with as she wishes.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
