www.iva.co.uk

So many questions.
Sorry about all of my questions, I am so anxious about my annual review just want it to come now and get it other with. I find creditfix staff on the phone can be either really helpful or awful and just stress me out even more so that's why I want to ask these questions on here. I have been looking at the income and expenditure on my allowance. I just have a few questions, please bear in mind I have a SOLE iva my husbands income has been taken into account initially when going through with creditfix:

1, why do they give allowances for meals at work; does anyone else have this? I actually take a packed lunch with me to work so how can I prove I use this, will they take the allowance away from me if I cannot prove it?

2, my husband is substantially on a lot more money than I am and he gets annual pay rises. I am in the iva on my own, if my husband gets say £200 annual pay increase, will my payments increase by this amount? I only get paid a small amount as I work part time.

3, the online thing with credit fix. my husband pays for quite a lot of things like petrol, shopping etc and this comes out of his bank account. how do we prove that we spend this? As he is not part of the IVA many have suggested in my previous questions that we will not need to provide his private bank accounts, we would have to do this creditfix have suggested to me when I call (I have called quite a few times).

4, when they do the annual review are they mainly interested in my monthly bills like mortgage, etc and then the other figures are guidelines. I am not sure how they amounted some of my income and expenditure calculations, do they have certain guidelines?

I hope that my first annual review goes smoothly, it seemed so easy when I set it up initially over the phone in feb. Any recent experiences from those in single iva in similar situation I would really appreciate it. x

Hi,

I used to have an allowance for meals. Most IP's do this.

Your husbands money is his own - income will be taken into account purely to make sure he is contributing to the household.. He does not have to provide details of his expenditure. You could keep receipts for whatever he pays for if they ask for it.

Guidelines are just that - guidelines. Some people have differing figures for differing things.

1, why do they give allowances for meals at work; does anyone else have this? I actually take a packed lunch with me to work so how can I prove I use this, will they take the allowance away from me if I cannot prove it?

The StepChange Budget Guidelines ( the guideline figures many firms use) include an allowance for Meals at work (£42 max in 2015). I ws never asked to evidence this.

2, my husband is substantially on a lot more money than I am and he gets annual pay rises. I am in the iva on my own, if my husband gets say £200 annual pay increase, will my payments increase by this amount? I only get paid a small amount as I work part time.

His income should only be used to work out his fair share towards household expenses. He is not obliged to reveal his personal finances to CF.

3, the online thing with credit fix. my husband pays for quite a lot of things like petrol, shopping etc and this comes out of his bank account. how do we prove that we spend this? As he is not part of the IVA many have suggested in my previous questions that we will not need to provide his private bank accounts, we would have to do this creditfix have suggested to me when I call (I have called quite a few times).

Unless third party access being granted is part of your terms of engagement with CF they cannot force you to do this -- although they will try. Usually, if things like petrol and shopping fall within the guideline figures, they do not need to be evidenced. Ip's normally only need evidence if you are claiming higher than guideline figures.

4, when they do the annual review are they mainly interested in my monthly bills like mortgage, etc and then the other figures are guidelines. I am not sure how they amounted some of my income and expenditure calculations, do they have certain guidelines?

They will use commonly acceoted guidelines (most use StepChange Guidelines) At annual review, the emphasis will be on checking all income (YOUR income) has been accounted for. They will only re-visit things like mortgage and utilities et. if you are claiming that these have significantly changed, then they will require evidence.

You are using CreditFix, who do tend to do things their own way (sometimes causing minor disasters along the way). They are, I am afraid, a bit of a wild card and our advice is based upon industry trends and usual practice, which CF do not, it seems, always follow.

My meal allowance is £10 for the odd occasions if I forget my lunch, or grab something extra. I considered the lunches in general were something that went under my groceries, as I take a packed lunch - perhaps I missed a trick! The guy at stepchange said it sounded low last year when they were setting up. I also later thought I should have said I smoked when they asked me, but couldn't have lied anyway.