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I own a small care business. One of my staff recently got into financial difficulties with her mortgage and I loaned her £3000 against my business. She has now informed me that she is taking an IVA but has not disclosed this debt. Will I see this money again or was I taken for a ride?

Hi Anthony K, sorry to hear about that. It depends on whether she knew about entering an IVA before she borrowed the money from you. I just stumbled on IVA's one morning when I was surfing the net trying to find a solution for my debts so maybe this could have been the way she found out about them, after you had lent her the money. Maybe you should ask her why she didnt include your debt in the IVA as you will be able to get some of your money back if she puts you down (I think).

Hello anthony

As I understand it all unsecured debts go into an IVA if its a secured debt in her name it will not be included.

If it was secured by you and lent to her as a friendly gesture, it is classed as your secured debt, however it may come under a 'friends or family' loan in the IVA, which is not much consolation to you, as usually these take second place to more formal arrangements. Then again she didnt unclude it.

As for being taken for a ride, It is entirely possible that this girl/friend/employee didnt mean to do this and may be the result of a desperate financial need. She may have fully intended to pay you back. The realisation of the extent of her debt problem, may have been after the event, so to speak.

You may have a claim against her in the small claims court, if you wanted to persue her, I cannot say how this would stack up agaisnt her IVA.

I am not an expert, just another person in debt.

I hope this helps

LILY

She should have included this debt in the IVA, - loans from friends and family are treated in exactly the same manner as a loan from a bank.

As the debt was not included in the IVA, you may revert to usual collection procedures to recover the amount due, or can ask your employee's IVA Supervisor to include the claim within the arrangement, so long as the arrangement provides for this. Your best bet may be to recover it via a deduction from her salary, although this may scupper the whole IVA if her income is reduced.

If the IVA is not yet in place, get details of the IP she is using and submit your claim before it is too late.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

Many thanks for the opinions offered. I don't believe the staff member intended to take an IVA at the time she asked for the loan...as mentioned, perhaps she did not realise the extent of her problems, although this is not the first time. We currently deduct from her salary each month, but as this is overseen by our accountants, I do not know the arrangements.Presumably the IP will be aware of this if he has access to her pay slips which should show the deduction?

Yes - the IP should have questioned your employee on the nature of this deduction and, once the repayments are concluded, her IVA payments should increase in direct proportion.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk