www.iva.co.uk

A few questions please
1 what happens when your gas electric bills drop over the year , at review would the creditors get this extra money or is your allowance at acceptance carried on into following years
2 when given an allowance for insurance etc / same question what happens to savings made by shopping around
3 can anyone tell me if £ 20 for water bill is maximum as that s what im allowed despite sending in statement saying it is actually £45.
Still trying to get my head round all this
Thanks in advance

You will fill in an income and expenditure form to disclose your current level of gas expenditure, so if you are paying less then your IVA payments may well increase.

Ditto for insurance savings

Your water rates should have been set at the level you actually pay. There are no "guideline" figures for water and general rates.

Hi,

Our water rates are over £50 per month and that has been allowed by our IP.

If your other expenditure goes down, then you will have to declare this when you have your annual review. The extra money will be paid across to the IVA unless any other areas of expenditure have gone up.

Its important that you submit what you actually spend and not try to fit in with "guidelines".

Thanks Melanie
Surely then there is no incentive to shop around for savings as in the long run it will cost you more , phone calls etc.the water rates thing is just another to add to my list where my advisor ( if thats the right term) said £ 45 was too high maximum was £ 20

Is it normal to speak to my IP at some point before the meeting or just the case handler,

For your utility bills then you should be able to claim the amount your are spending - it's ridiculous that they are saying there is a maximum amount.

It depends on who you are with, the big firms will probably just give you a case handler and you talk to them.

If you're not in an IVA yet (and I can't remember if you are),then it is not too late to change to another firm who have more realistic figures.

The more i ask the more i feel i was badly advised,
a lot of my allowances seem below other forum members,
its not as though i dont pay a good amount every month, after reading other posts my proposal seemed to sail through ie not a lot of contact with firm maybe 2 calls at most.

Some IPs never or rarely speak to their clients. I speak to all of mine to make sure that they have been properly advised at all stages, are happy with the affordability of all their expenditure areas and importantly feel that they can afford the payments.

Whilst this does mean that some clients will not go forward as a result of this chat, or will find a better option for them such as bankruptcy, I do find it is the safest way for both me and the client to proceed.

Other IPs have a differing view, or use others to conduct these interviews, and only you can really decide if you have made the right choice.

Which IP firm are you with, and how were they recommended to you?

Melanie
M D & Credit
I found them just by using internet some site which directed them to me i think, everything seemed to happen so quick,within a week forms signed and meeting within a month,i almost feel like ive missed out on some thing by not speaking to others like yourself, still too late now into month 2.

The danger of firms who claim to propose IVAs in a flash is that they are rarely researched or put together as well as someone who takes their time to fully understand their client's finances and holds detailed discussions with their client along each stage of the process.

Try and make it work - it may have started off wrong, but I am sure you will try your best to keep on track.

hope it works out for you DP.

Thanks will certainly be doing my best

I feel like that too DP but I left it all to my husband and didnt see what figures were being put forward. Then I just thought we need this so i agreed on basics. We wioll struggle for first year then put new figures in for food and others we missed out.