www.iva.co.uk

Hi everyone,
I am currently in the fifth year in payment of an IVA.
I have two questions. One to do with whether I qualified for an IVA in the first place and the second one to do with what is legitimate practice.
At the time I signed the IVA my income was as follows
Incapacity benefit : £99.38 pw
Pension Credit : £31.90 pw
Occupational Pension : £13.17 pw
In my view this level of income would not qualify me for an IVA allowing for an average criteria for outgoings in London and a comfortable standard of living?
My IP, however, claimed my surplus income was over £100 pm. This was calculated by artificially inflating my income and expenditure showing my income as £1019 pm and expenditure as £900 pm (nice round figure that)including housing benefit, council tax etc.In effect, this way of calculating income and expenditure makes it look as though I had £100 to spare when in fact the money in hand I had would make my surplus income less than half that. I thus paid £100 per month for the IVA. Is this legitimate practice?
Thanks.

Did you challenge the figures included in the IVA proposal and if they were wrong why did you agree to them and sign it? How did the IP come to a figure of 1019pm for your income? If they were wrong how have you managed to pay the monthly amount for five years?

Well I find this shocking news, congrats to you for surviving. Not long to go x

Thank you for your response.
I did not question the figures at the time. As you can imagine, in the heat of a financial crisis and being new to this kind of episode, I accepted the first option that would have conveniently settled the situation and quietened my creditors.
I have challenged the figures with my IP, but they have avoided the central issues: did my income qualify me for an IVA in the first place and were they right to calculate my income and expenditure in the way they did by artificially inflating my income and expenditure. It is solid information on these two points I am looking for. In my view, I would not have qualified for an IVA until the IP inflated the figures for income and expenditure bringing me within the area to qualify for an IVA that demanded the highest fees.The larger issue is whether a financial service has been wrongly sold by misrepresenting the figures.
I survived by cutting to the bone my living standards.
Thanks.

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by MikeyM

Did you challenge the figures included in the IVA proposal and if they were wrong why did you agree to them and sign it? How did the IP come to a figure of 1019pm for your income? If they were wrong how have you managed to pay the monthly amount for five years?

hi michael.05

well done on getting so far as you are almost at the end

im no way an expert , gaining my opinion from completing an almost 6 yrs IVA and reading the forum

to me what you say sounds completely wrong; however and again remember im not a qualified expert , but my opinion is that to rock the boat at this late stage could PERHAPS see your iva failed if cancelled and thiswould put you back to where you were 4+ years ago ie owing your creditors the money you did at the time; granted im not exactly sure what would happen with the payments you have made to date , i personally think they may be gone for good. so wonder if its better for you just to complete the final few months of your IVA ?

im sure one of the professional experts will be along over the next day or so to offer a more qualified opinion than mine.

Thanks for your response.
What you say is something I considered and have already committed myself to fulfilling the IVA. It would of course be a luxury to have the completion certificate early, should it be the case that I was improperly sold the financial service. What concerns me most is that, if the presentation of the figures was misleading and deceptive and that I did not ordinarily qualify for an IVA in the first place, then how many others are victims of this practice? An IVA commands the highest fees and it is in the interest of IP's to promote this option.
Thanks

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by 12 months to go

hi michael.05

well done on getting so far as you are almost at the end

im no way an expert , gaining my opinion from completing an almost 6 yrs IVA and reading the forum

to me what you say sounds completely wrong; however and again remember im not a qualified expert , but my opinion is that to rock the boat at this late stage could PERHAPS see your iva failed if cancelled and thiswould put you back to where you were 4+ years ago ie owing your creditors the money you did at the time; granted im not exactly sure what would happen with the payments you have made to date , i personally think they may be gone for good. so wonder if its better for you just to complete the final few months of your IVA ?

im sure one of the professional experts will be along over the next day or so to offer a more qualified opinion than mine.