Would they need to contact her employer

[concernedaboutmywife]

I am really concerned about the iva process. All of our debt is in my name and i am considering approaching an IP but our debt problems have taken its toll on my wife's mental health and she is effectivly refusing to acknowledge it for fear of having another breakdown. How intrusive is the IVA process into my wifes afairs? I know they will need her wage slips for, i guess, a few months to assess her contribution to the bills etc but do they also need to have access to her bank account? Would they need to contact her employer if "I" was to enter an IVA? Basically i want to know how much it will affect my wife if i choose to enquire about an IVA as like i said all the debt is in my name
thanks

[Adam Davies]

Hi
The company that you use will not contact your wifes employer[or yours].
Are you a house owner ? is it ointly owned ? If so you may well have to release some of the equity in your house and your wife will have to know about this.
An IVA is fairly intrusive so your wife should not be too distressed.
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson and site manager
(aka Neverending)

Please check out my blog: http://andydavie.blogs.iva.co.uk

View my profile here:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

[MelanieGiles]

Hi concerned

You are rightly to be concerned about your wife's health, and I am pleased to advise that the process will hardly affect her position - but as Andy says she will need to agree to an equity release if you have equity in your property.

There is no checking of her bank accounts or contact with her employer, and she will simply need to provide a few wage slips as proof of her earnings. Rather than become an additional nightmare for you and your wife, an IVA (or any other insolvency process) is likely to remove this ongoing pressure from you both.

Good luck and do keep posting if we can help further.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[concernedaboutmywife]

Thank you both for at least setting my mind at rest with that.
As you can tell i just want to minimise the impact this will have on her.

We currently have a joint account with FirstDirect and i also have a sole account with them. One of my creditors is them with a CC (approx 2.5k) we also have a joint loan with them too. If we moved the joint account to a sole (just my wife, it started as her sole account) and asked for the joint loan to be just in her name do you think they would ask her to close her account with them because i was going through either a DMP or IVA? Any advice as to how i can minimise the stress for her?
Thank you in advance

[gimmewine]

I don't think they will let you put the loan in her name only. I hit the same situation when I got divorced. Although I agreed to take over the joint loan and I was making all the payments Lloyds would not let me take his name off.

Also, in a joint loan you are jointly and severally liable for the debt. What this means is that is one party cannot pay the other party becomes liable for the debt ie if you go into an IVA they will pursue your wife for the entire debt. How big is the joint loan? Are there any other joint debts?

[concernedaboutmywife]

Oh
The joint loan is approx 5k paying 100 a month, i wonder if they would let her take out a loan in her own name to pay this off and remove me all together? or is that the same thing? I just dont want to drag her down with me if you understand my meaning.

[MelanieGiles]

OK - you did intially say that all of the debts were in your name. If your wife is jointly liable for some of them, she will need to carry on paying them after your IVA has been put into place. There will be no need to change the loan over, she just takes responsibility for paying it and you will need to provide for these payments in your income and expenditure account - allocated to her directly.

An insolvency practitioner can help you with this exercise.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[concernedaboutmywife]

Thank you Melanie, i had forgotten about the loan as it comes out of the joint which i dont really use.

Thank you once again. If i have anymore questions, which i am sure i will, i will post back soon.

Its so great to have this forum available, keep up the good work everybody its a lifeline to many it seems