www.iva.co.uk

Hi
This may be a long post bear with me. I have been in an IVA for 4 years entering 5th. Original payments of £370 were set up. This increased due to a pay rise to £386 the following year. By the 4th year my costs had changed, bills gone up, house repairs and high school uniforms to buy etc so at the yearly check i expressed worries and told them I was struggling. We went through all my costs for the 4th year and I was told they could apply a 15% max reduction reducing my payments to £315 ish.
This year I completed my yearly check no real changes compared to the previous year except i had changed my car (5 payment breaks needed for this) and my payments came in at £345?? Even though the surplus was showing as £318.
I queried this but never recieving a straight answer.
I got a letter telling me I owed arrears which I didnt owe.
They are now at me to get redemption certificate and have valued my house even though I have 16 months left to my original term. (Due to payment breaks of 6m)
Also are saying I need to pay the original agreed £370.
They dont seem to be comunicating with each other as its different people everytime different story everytime.
This is affectng my mental health (which is a bit ropey after this past year) to the point when an email arrives i get a feeling of dread and avoid looking at it in case its a what now!!
Due to this I have, aproached a mortgage lender who can assist me in a remortgage to finish the IVA. (I do have equity) I am able to raise enough extra to make a full and final offer of £9000 (excluding next 3 months payments) which I have sent in.
I was told I had to finish my i & e first (which was done 2 months ago) ?? I despair.
Yesterday i got another email or two (bravely opened) asking for a couple of further details for a variation meeting to be organised re offer and also one (the confusing one) saying my i & e was now £299 it also stated that if the variation meeting was unsuccessful i would have arrears to think about (from the original payment of £370) im so confused and want to cry. Why would I have arrears. I've been paying £345 what they asked for at my original yearly check this year. I feel like they are trying to break me.
I will ask the question, why I may have arrears but dread the convoluted answer i shall recieve.
If anyone has any clear explanation I would be grateful
Thanks

My understanding is that the agreed reduction in payments, dealt with under the IP's discretion to agree up to 15% reduction without referral to creditors, is not repayable and does not constitute arrears. The payment breaks are arrears and are usually dealt with by adding the 'missed' months back on at the end.

You are at month 48 and the equity release provisions are supposed to be enacted around month 54, regardless of the goalposts having been moved slightly by the payment breaks extending the end date. So them starting this now, given the time it sometimes takes to gather information, isn't too far off the mark.

Thank you for your reply. I've re read what was sent to me and it does say i will have arrears.
It dosen't seem fair as my costs haven't gone down any as payplan have noted as the surplus has reduced even further to £299 but they expect the original £370.
I give up