www.iva.co.uk

Hi I have asked this question previously but don't think I explained it well. An old employer is winding up the pension scheme I was when employed by them I have been offered a winding up lump sum gross £9173 now I asked pay plan if it would all have to go to the iva yes was the response but the question is my husbands car is 9.5 years old 100,000 miles on clock he has to have a reliable car as he looks after children in care his contract states car a must now my way of thinking is use the cash to get him a car that will outlive the iva as at some point in the 5year his car will pack up Payplan haven't replied to my emails I can't get through on the phone surely getting a car with the cash is the only way to protect my husbands job and safeguard the iva as if pay plan agreed to us financing another car the April would be extortionate and the whole point is not to get in any more debt please help with an answer.

This will hinge on whether you are obliged to take the lump sum now, or if you can defer it, or, more likely, transfer it into another (possibly existing) pension fund.

If you are obliged to take the cash now, Payplan will want it.

If you are able to defer it or transfer it to another plan, then it would be possible to bargain with it, as this is money Payplan wouldn't get otherwise .... along the lines of, "If you agree to split the lump sum 50/50 to allow the purchase of a reliable vehicle to protect our income, then I will apply for the cash to be released. If you would not agree to the split then the money will remain vested in my pension fund and will not be available to either of us."

I would see if an expert comes along and comments on that tack, as it might be a non-starter

I agree Foggy that the money is better where it is rather than being drawn down and swallowed up. I sugested when the poster last raised a query that there should be a variation called to allow the money to be drawn down and spent on a new vehicle. Given that the funds are unlikely to be available to the IVA I would have thought creditors would accept such a variation so Lisa should speak to her IP.

My husbands boss closed the works pension sometime ago but the fact that it was a pension fund meant we couldn't take the cash but had to put it in another pension. I would check that you can take the cash before you decide what you would do with it as you may have to leave it in a pension fund.