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Are you thinking about doing an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA)?



You will need to avoid being bound to a costly IVA that you may later regret.



Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA)

An individual voluntary arrangement is a formal insolvency procedure under the Insolvency Act 1986 whereby your creditors agree to receive repayment of monies owed (your debts), usually over a period of 3 to 5 years.

How does it work?

Depending upon how much assets you actually own and your income at the time you may ask your creditors for debt forgiveness; this is to write off a percentage of your debts usually 40 to 70%. In return for this substantial debt forgiveness you agree to repay the balance (60 to 30%) of your debt over the agreed 3 to 5 years term.

What are the advantages?

  • If your IVA is negotiated correctly you can write off a substantial part of your debt and be debt free in 3 – 5 years
  • Can be one single payment each month as a regular contribution into the IVA for equal distribution to your creditors
  • You may get to keep your assets
  • You will not have to sell your family home
  • All your creditors will be bound by the terms of the IVA
  • You may still engage in business and borrow money

What are the disadvantages?

  • Although an IVA is a very favourable way of writing off a substantial part of your debts it can lead to your personal bankruptcy if you fail to keep with the agreement
  • Terms in the IVA which you agreed at the time may, at a future date, not be so appealing, and cause the IVA to fail if you are unable to honour them
  • Adverse effect on your credit file for 6 years

How we can help...

All proposals for an IVA are different as regards the terms; what is actually agreed. It is important to ensure the right IVA terms are agreed and that they meet with your best interest.

In many instances the monthly contributions could be significantly lower than what has been proposed to creditors. These contributions can remain static throughout the term and even reduced so it does help to negotiate and agree the right terms.

Many IVA's fail to survive the duration and as a consequence bankruptcy for the individual is made certain. Therefore, you should never enter into an IVA without taking independent, professional advice as to what your options are.

As a rule we always recommend that you retain an independent, professional, insolvency advisor to advise you throughout the proposal stage of the IVA.

The insolvency practitioner (IP) that you have nominated to be your advisor, then nominee, then supervisor actually has a vested financial interest. The higher your contributions into the IVA the more fee income are actually generated for the IP.

As your independent, professional, insolvency advisor we will ensure that your contributions into the IVA are kept to an absolute minimum and that the IVA proposal is fit, fair and feasible for creditors to accept.

We remain confident our experience will save you more money and you will receive an IVA that you will be happy with at the beginning, middle and end of the term.