Hi all, I am 2 years into my IVA and I am keen to sustain this to the end. I have no assets and I could have gone BR.
I am doing my best to repay what I can. I got in a mess and I want to hold my head up and get out of it paying as much as I can afford.
I have not had dental treatment for 2 years, I cannot go to the gym anymore and it is all my own fault. I just feel very confused that I am told I should have had a personal hygiene allowance of 25.00 but then the advisor said ask for 15.00!! I am struggling to eat healthy on 150.00 per month. Crikey I am not asking for much am I. CCS guidelines are over 180.00 for food/housekeeping for a single person, why are DFD's not???
Last edited by marsha1 on Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Marsha IVAs are not supposed to be punishments but a compromise and agreement between you and your creditors. If you are suffering then there is something wrong and contact your case manager for a review. There is a lot more discretion at the supervisory stage than at the initial meeting of creditors and it is to the benefit of all concerned if your IVA runs it's course.
You should be able to go to the dentist as this is not a luxury and you should be able to eat heathily.
Thank you for all of your replies. It means a lot. I am going to add in a column on my expenditure for dental. Also haircuts and glasses.I will see what they say and take it from there. Thanks again.
Marsha - just present your budget as it is, and be prepared to fight your corner if necessary. Dental expenditure is essential for good health - and it would be a very reckless IP that turned that down. Gym membership is less so - you can go for a walk or a run completely free of charge, and do exercise in the park, but clearly some compromise is necessary for the longevity of your IVA.
Hi all
I appreciate the comments you have made in relation to allowances and guidelines we use in proposing IVAs. I’m going to explain why we use the guidelines we do and why we feel it is not nonsense using these figures.
We discuss the income and expenditure with every client in detail line by line and they are given every opportunity to tell us if they spend more money on an item than in the allowances, and we can increase the allowance if they can justify it. However, we find that most clients are satisfied with a £140 per month allowance for food and household goods(not including personal hygiene or clothing). If they overspend any month, every client also has a £50 contingency allowance for unexpected expenditure. We do not impose this on every single case without due consideration to the client. For example, we would make exceptions for people who, due to health reasons, required special food types along with other reasons.
As we all know, for an IVA to be successful, it needs to be fair to both the client and creditor. We have always found that using these guidelines allows us, our clients and the creditors to achieve a fair balance.
I agree that this is an outrage. I am a new member and have only been in my IVA for just over a year but to be honest, after reading some of the things I have done it does not fill me full of hope.
Whilst I am the first person to hold my hands up and admit I made a mistake, I can not believe some of the things I have seen on this forum or tales I have been told by my own supervisor.
I think it's safe to say everyone in an IVA is in it partly out of moral. I could have declared myself bankrupt however the type of person I am prevented me from doing so. And like was mentioned previously, this is not a punishment. We should be able to make our monthly payments and live at the same time. This does not mean constant nights out, holidays abroad and lavish shopping trips. But the ability to shop for food, fix our car if it breaks down and have a tooth pulled out! Bankruptsy benefits no one in the long end and people should be working together and no against one another. An IVA promises to reduce stress and hassle - how can you be stress free struggling to make ends each month?
Like most others on this site, if I can afford to up my payments that I absolutely will. But to be told you can only live on such and such an amount, to me, is inhumane.
I can only hope I complete my IVA and have a good report at the end of it because something like that can really help you keep strong in a situation such as this.
I always thought that the idea behind an IVA was that it is individual - tailored to each persons circumstances.
Surely as long as you can justify the expenditure, it should be allowed?
We are with Payplan and have had no problems yet with our allowances. Surely all IP's should be the same.
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
Are you saying that at DFD the majority of your single clients tell you that they only spend £140 on food and household, before you tell them that £140 is the limit allowed - or are they told that there is a limit first which then then agree they will be able to stick to?
The vast majority of my clients would definately not be able to cope with such a low budget, nor would that be the figure they are currently needing to spend.
But I respect that your views are different and that you are merely representing the largest IVA provider in the country, so perhaps my figures are not so representative of the common man.
You say every client has a £50 contingency allowance ? Well I am with DFD & I only get £40 contingency, so where did the other tenner come from ? I also did not know I could have a hygiene allowance too, I do get a clothing allowance which is only £25, when taking out an IVA was £140 food allowance expected to be the same allowance limit throughout the 5 year plan with food prices increasing ?
Personally speaking I think that clients will say yes to anything on the table when speaking with an IVA firm initially. You just want to have a resolution to your problem and without thinking it through properly you will say yes whatever the cost and regret it later.
I feel myself lucky that I found this forum before I was squeezed dry by an IVA firm who simply fudged the figures to fit in with what they thought the creditors would accept.
When you're faced with rock bottom, you'll accept anything that is put infront of you which you believe will make things better.
7 year IVA completed in December 2016 - there is light at the end of that tunnel
You are absolutely right in this respect Cath as I felt obliged to agree to everything DFD put to me as I wanted my IVA underway and quickly,the hounds were baying (my ceditors!)and I dreaded bankruptcy although I did tussle and joust with a pretty sharp witted team of IVA advisers to some degree I gave in pretty easily, but for the record DFD told me I was only allowed £270 per month for rent, £130 per month for food, and £50 per month contingency, this was 18 months ago and when the annual review came last July I was told that any increase by more than £10 for any sector of my expenditure was to be questioned and justified by me! I am lucky in several ways though in so much as I earn overtime and bonuses at work which have helped me substantially,though of course I only keep 50%. I also live with my parents whom I have been paying £100 per week for many years towards my costs and household bills which is fine, but others who have to pay rent and cannot share the bills with family must find these retrictions depressingly prohibitive!
The whole point is that there should not be restrictions - or at least not imposed by IP firms. If creditors want to work to benchmarks, then that is their right - and then you have the right to agree or disagree depending on how reasonable their request is, and how important the IVA is to you.
Morning all, I agree the limitations within the IVA mean that myself personaly find our family really struggle. we have £350 per month allowance for food (2 adults and 1 16yr old at colledge with no EMA) its a huge uphill struggle our £50 contingency is eaten up instantly.
I posted that I thought Declan's £140 figure for wood was nonsense - I still do think that. My wife had to take my mother-in law to hospital as a day case - the hospital is in a large city. As she had a few hours to spare she took her mother's weekly shopping list to various supermarkets - the costs were as follows:
Morrisons £44:16
Tesco £41:19
Asda £40:20
Sainsburys £50:01
Sommerfield £49:12
Ordinary food and toilet requirements - all "own brand" where available-
all above Declan's figures of £32:30 and two of them above £43:84-the figure inclusive of the contingency. The supermakets are 160 mile return trip from where my mother-in-law lives! As I said before - only the Co-Op here and then always above Declan's allowance figures.
