www.iva.co.uk

Both my wife and I are in an interlocking IVA for the past 2 years.Inthis time we have had some heavy bills which have required me to contact the IP and delay payment or make up the payment (ie go into arrears) However we have just had another large bill for the car and have been told by the IP that they cannot allow us to pay 2 amounts on 01/08 and miss a payment on 01/07 They stated that we have 28 days to rectify or the IVA will be deemed as a failure or they would have to re contact the creditors. This is confusing for us as all we are asking is that we make 2 payments in august and miss july due to this bill which I said I would send them. Can you confirm if this means our IVA is to fail after 2 years because of this or do we have to go back again to the creditors.
Thank you

On the face of it that seems bizarre, you can actually miss 3 consecutive payments before your IVA is then breached and at risk of failure, have you managed to catch up with your arrears as yet?

Have you explained to your IP that without the funds to repair your car you cannot get to work to earn the money to pay the IVA and therefore what alternative do they suggest?

Your IP is being a mite heavy handed and over literal ! If you have made up previous arrears there should be no problem. And, indeed, any sane IP with a modicum of common sense and sense of trying to help his clients would have no problem with your suggestion.

Who, dare I ask, are you with ? And .. have to been speaking to your IP direct, or an over zealous phone jockey in need of some training?

we are with mccambridge duffy and started our iva in March 2011.

we have since 2011 gone back to the creditors for a variation meeting as my wife and I lost some of our income.
we have asked the IP on 2 previous occasions if we can miss a payment due to unexpected bills and have just adjusted our monthly payments.
I believe we still are in arrears but the IP has agreed our monthly payments so I don't see a problem.
Its just this latest heavy bill of 270 which has meant we cannot afford both and all we asked was that we make 2 payments in august so not building any extra arrears. unfortunately mc Cambridge straightaway said they cannot agree to it and if we don't pay within 28 days they will have no choice but to contact the creditor and issue a non compliance notice which is silly as we can pay our iva but just needed help this month...
we don't wish to be held over a barrel and would pull out if we needed too and just go bankrupt then nobody wins.Anyhow looking at the statements from the IP it looks like no money has been paid yet to the creditors.
Can we change to another company or not....

The IPs often do not have discretion and must comply with the modifications. This can mean your hands are tied and while the IVAs may be in default we will usually call a variation to get creditors to forgive the default and allow the IVAs to continue.

However in your case it is possible that we will issue a certificate of non compliance and allow you time to correct this. Effectively your IVA will continue on as normal but we may not have the discretion to allow any more missed payments.

Foggy. We do try our best to keep IVAs open and we cal variations all the time. However if the modifications state that if the client misses three payments not necessarily consecutive it constitutes a default, then we must go with those modifications.

Secondtimearound.
I hope this makes sense but any queries and do not hesitate to contact me directly at the office. I am sure you will be fine and the IVAs will not be failed but we do have to comply with the terms of the IVAs.

Don't blame the IP necessarily - as Michael says this is often not our choice, and any agreements to extensions outside of our discretion can only be agreed by creditors. You are with one of the quickest firms to arrange variations, so if this is necessary I am sure it can all ne done well in time to avoid the IVA failing.

Michael -- I have always taken a missed payment to be one that has not been made at all -- not one that has been postponed by agreement. In this particular instance the proposed, "missed", payment is to be made, albeit a little late.

However, I stand corrected.

Hi secondtimearound hope you get this resolved soon, I am sure Michael and the team will do all they can for you as they will not want a failed IVA either if it can be helped. Keep us posted.

Foggy.
Your thinking is commonsense but that does not always apply in insolvency!

I am sure Melanie and the others will agree that the problem lies with the lack of discretion afforded to IPs. Commonsense does not come into it and while I do not know the poster's case I can hazard a guess.

If he/she has already missed two payments even with our approval, we cannot sanction another missed payment. However if the poster misses another payment we can issue a notice of breach allowing them 28 days to rectify this breach otherwise we would have to revert to creditors. The poster then rectifies the breach by making two payments in August as they wanted to originally and everything moves on.

The easiest thing for us would be to just allow another missed payment but if that is contrary to the modifications we could find ourselves in hot water when the regulators come to inspect.

Thank you all . I wish Charmaine @ Mc Cambridge explained it like you have. I asked about our current position today and was informed that we were 3.44 payments in arrears (including 01/07) and the figure is £684 in arrears (including 01/07)

does this now mean we can make 2 payments on 01/08 and we just carry on or would it be better to go back to the creditors one more time for another variation

Michael and I do not always see eye to eye but he does talk a lot of sense !
And a little discussion around a subject often elicits understanding, even if it doesn't alwayts make you happy

You can actually grant up to three months leeway with a Notice of Breach - something I often do for our clients who deserve a little more slack!

Melanie

Thank you again for your advice, unfortunately I still am unsure of what steps we need to take.
As Michael said can we contact McCambridge Duffy and just ask them to inform the creditors that we will be making 2 payments on 01/08/2013 as they have not explained our current situation at all. The emails I have received from them just outline that they will have to put in a breach of non-compliance with not suggestion from them on how we address this. They have just asked that we pay the 183 (july payment) within 28 days.
I am concerned as at the beginning of the year my employer after consultation with Occ Health reduced my hours from 37 to 29 due to my long term anxiety illness.I have just told the IP as we honestly feel the creditors(or should I say the main creditor) will not propose a second variation as my income has dropped.
However on a positive note I am looking hard at reducing outgoings to match even it out.
I used to have a lot of confidence but find it hard to deal with situations like this.
Thank you again

I think you have been in touch with the office and hopefully everything has been explained to your satisfaction. We will not be failing the IVA or going back to creditors but we will have to issue a notice of breach which you will have ample time to rectify.

If you do need to propose another variation please feel free to contact the office and provide us with the new income figures based on reduced hours. We will do all we can to help.