Five (or six) years is a long time and for the iva to last it is essential that you have a good, open, honest relationship with your IP. There is definately a need to discuss this with any prospective iva provider.

An IP request for her P60 at review time would put her into the mire.... assuming that she isn't making things even worse by working "cash in hand" in her second job.

Melanie, This 85% LTV bit..... how would the following example pan out? House valued at £200,000 Outstanding mortgage of £170,000 Technically £30k equity available (15% of property value). Would the 85% LTV rule mean that the IVA would conclude after year five even though you have equity available? ...

When doing a weekly food shop, a lot of people draw up a shopping list before going out and then do a "dummy shop" online at the supermarket's website. That way, you know exactly how much you will be spending when you go out and you are not tempted by all the offers that look great but you don't rea...

What a great xmas prezzie for you both. Congrats.

You should include all essential expense related to your vehicle, including insurance, MOT and car tax etc, within your I & E. Your contingency should be just that.... a small amount set aside for the unexpected. At the outset mine was set at £40 per month.

And not only has the interest stopped while you've been in the IVA, you have not run up even more lines of credit over the last 3 years. And be honest, you would have done. We ALL would have done..... it's what got us all into the situations we found ourselves in in the first place. Take heart that ...

You would normally be allowed to keep a percentage of the redundancy for living costs to tide you over for a few months while you looked for new employment. Anyhing left would be paid across to the IVA as a windfall. If you could not get new employment within this timeframe you would probably be abl...

I agree with Jan. Forget about making token payments. Cancel all direct debits etc. When the calls come simply tell them that you are unable to repay and are in the process of proposing an IVA. Use the money that would normally be servicing your debts to build up a fighting fund to help you through ...

I agree wth Jan. Don't make any token payments, cancel all direct debits etc and start building up a "fighting fund" which will make the initial months in an IVA far easier. Good luck.

I wonder what the experts thoughts are? A windfall, by definition, is an unexpected win or gain whereas this payment was (or is now) expected. Would the "first £500" rule apply?

I would imagine all of it - after all, if you did not have the payment protection on your secured loan then your disposable income would increase meaning a much higher return to your creditors in any case.

I would have thought that your IP might have picked up on this prior to your IVA starting.

And if you were tempted not to tell your IP about this job there could be serious consequences if they did discover it some other way. Are you sure that your IP will not be requesting your P60 at annual review time as well as payslips from your "regular" job?

Check with your IP, Lottie. Mine only asks for our payslips and for a new I&E to be completed but, as Jan says, many also want bank statements and P60. Most of us worry unnecessarily about our reviews, I'm sure that yours will be fine.

Kallis gives good advice. Do not enter into any agreement unless you are confident that you have the disposable income available to meet the monthly payment requirements. I wouldn't personally get too hung up about the IVA fees, assuming that you are not paying any upfront. You would no doubt find a...