would the finance company take my car off me?

[ruth.s]

I have credit card debts and a car loan with a finance company. I rent my property. They all total about £30K. If i started a IVA would the finance company take my car off me? I have the car loan over 5 years and i have only paid 9 months off so far.

[kallis3]

Hi Ruth and welcome to the forum.

One of the experts will be along to advise you shortly.

[johnt]

I think it very much depends on the value of the car and what you intend to use it for.

Everyone has there own circumstances.

Generally you will be asked to include your car loan within the IVA.

You may be asked to sell a car of high value in order to satisfiy as much of the car loan as possible. You would then depending on how important the car is to your business be able to negotiate an affordable alternative, of say £5,000. This fiqure seems fairly typical.

However as I say if the car is essential to the day to day running of the business your in then you may be able to keep it, and of course continue with your existing plan.

In any case talk to your IP.

[debtmountain]

Hi Ruth,[:D]

Just wanted to welcome you to the forum as well, I'm new to all this as well having only joined just over a week ago. Just going through the process at the moment of hopefully getting an IVA approved.

Is your Car on HP? or is it a Loan? not sure if it makes a difference, one of the Experts will be along soon but in my case, my Car is on HP and as I have 3 years left to pay on it, I am hoping that my creditors will accept that I can keep the Car on condition that when I have paid it off in full, the monthly amount will be added to the IVA for the last 3 or 4 years.

xx

[johnt]

for the record, and since my car was not vital for work, I sold my car for £5500 and repaid the existing £3000 left on the car loan from savings and family help. This took the car loan out of the IVA. It's now fully paid, and was worth the effort!

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Ruth

So long as the car is subject to a hire purchase agreement, and the payments are not too high, I am sure that this will be allowable expenditure in your proposed voluntary arrangement. What stage are you actually at with everything?

[Vincent Bond]

Hi Ruth

You need to find out whether the loan you have for your car is definately HP or not. Sometimes this is hard to see from your paperwork, but if the loan is secured on your car (i.e. it is an HP), and you need the car for day to day living then you can keep the car in an IVA providing the repayment is not too high.

However, some finance deals are actually just loans even when obtained from a car showroom. These are unsecured debts that would be included in your IVA along with other loans and credit card debt. As such you would be able to keep the car provided it was not excessively valuable.

You should check the original agreement and give the company a call if you are unsure, but they would only take the car back if it is an HP and you stopped making the payments. You need to be sure either way as this can make a big difference in calculating whether an IVA can work or not.

All the best

Vincent Bond