Individual Voluntary Arrangements The Advantages

IVAs dont suit everybody, but for those who do meet the criteria, the benefits are fantastic:

• You can legally write off up to 75% of your debt.

• You can reduce your monthly repayments by calculating how much you can afford to repay each month & then make just one affordable repayment.

• You can stop all your creditors, debt collection agencies & bailiifs hassling you (your Insolvency practitoner will take care of all this).

• You can avoid Bankruptcy.

Example Scenario:

Tony has 125,000 worth of Debt including 5 credit card debts, 1 personal loan, income tax debts & business debts (with personal guarantees). He also owns his family home which has a current open market value of 200,000 with an outstanding mortgage of 175,000.

Tonys monthly debt repayments (credit cards, personal loans etc) currently amount to 1200 per month but he is currently living off his credit cards to enable him to stay on top of these repayments he is basically robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Tony has been approached by a Company who claim they can write off all his debts for a fee of 1800. Tony has correctly stated that even if they are successful (which is a gamble in itself) he will still have his tax debts & business debts to worry about, so there really is no point (Nice try though, eh)

Tony has a monthly income of 2500 (after allowance for tax) and monthly expenses of 2225 (without the above debt repayments).
Tony has entered into an IVA that protects his family home by selling the equity in the house to his Mother & Father for 15000 (using a realistic immediate sale value, less costs) & paying just 275 per month for 5 years.

Tony has therefore cleared all his 125,000 debts by paying only 31,500 & reduced his monthly debt repayments from 1200 to 275.

Tony is a very happy man

IVA Services
Entering into an IVA can be very daunting, thats why I provide the following services, entirely Free of charge to all my clients:

• Initial Free assessment to ensure an IVA is the right debt solution for you & your circumstances.

• Preparation of your Income & expenditure account.

• Preparation of additional financial statements, including cash flow forecasts, budgets and forecasted Profit & Loss accounts where required.

• Advice on saving your family home in an IVA.

• Attendance at meetings; the IVA meetings themselves can often be quite daunting, if necessary I will attend your IVA meetings with you to advise & assist you through the process.

Call me now on 0800 533 5370 for further details of IVAs & how they can solve your debt problems.

Most people feel that the UK Insolvency / Debt solutions industry is a minefield. There are so many options, but so few truly independent advisors.

Many so called advisors are merely selling their own particular product or service, others are using call centres where the person who is advising you has no real knowledge or experience of debt & is just working from a sales script. So what are your main options?

Well, theres a lot to be said for brevity so, Ill keep this nice & brief;

1. DEBT CONSOLIDATION take out a new loan to consolidate your debts into 1 easily manageable payment. The credit crunch has made this option much harder particularly for people with adverse credit ratings.

2. DEBT MANAGEMENT Utilise the services of a Debt management Company to deal with all your creditors on your behalf, you make one affordable payment & they apportion/share it amongst your creditors .

3. UNFAIR CREDIT AGREEMENT AUDITS this option is very widespread at the moment & comes in many different shapes & sizes but some experts are questioning whether it will actually work or not, particularly now that the Government own 50% / 60% of some of the major banks. This option could work & if it does all or some of your debts could be written off, but beware the sharks Ive heard reports of Companies charging large up-front fees & then doing nothing/very little for months whilst other Companies are charging large back-end fees using CFAs (conditional fee agreements) if youre unable to pay their fees they could (and will) petition for your bankruptcy.

4. IVAs / INDIVIDUAL VOLUNTARY ARRANGEMENTS; this could be the best option for many people with debts over 15,000. Up to 75% of your debt is written off & the remainder is repaid over a period of time (up to 5 years) with 1 monthly repayment. However, selecting the right Insolvency practitioner for an IVA is very important; choose one of the dodgy ones & you could easily end up paying thousands, & still end up bankrupt (I have personal experience of this).

5. BANKRUPTCY; The last resort for most people but the only real option for many. An opportunity to draw a line in the sand by writing off all your debts. As I say though, this really should be viewed as a last resort due to the restrictions & inconvenience bankruptcy causes. Youll generally be discharged from bankruptcy within 12months but give serious consideration to an IVA before you go down this route.

The most important thing to remember is to obtain quality independent advice and establish which option is best for you & your circumstances. Many Debt advisers/experts are selling one particular debt solution, so theyre bound to say that their solution is better than all the others, they wouldnt be in business for very long if they didnt

If you need help choosing the right debt solution for you & your circumstances, give me a call on 0800 533 5370 now to discuss your situation further.