Individual Voluntary Arrangement

An Individual Voluntary Agreement is a legal and formal agreement between you and your creditors. They are suitable for people who can no longer afford to make their full monthly repayments to creditors, but who can afford to make a reasonable offer.

An IVA proposal shows how you are going to repay your creditors, usually over a period of five years. It will be prepared and drawn up by an Insolvency Practitioner.

To work out whether you qualify for an IVA you will be asked a number of questions about your current financial position. This will enable our advisors to calculate how much you can realistically afford to pay your creditors each month. Also we will ask you about any other assets you may have, as these may need to be included in the IVA. If you can demonstrate that, over the five-year term of the arrangement, you could pay back a reasonable amount of your total debt, an IVA could be a suitable option for you.

Unlike bankruptcy, details of an IVA are not openly published in the local press. It is a confidential arrangement between you and your creditors. Employers and landlords are not informed.

With an IVA you get:

• One reduced monthly payment to your creditors
• A court order that stops any legal action by your creditors
• No more stressful telephone calls and letters from your creditors.
• An end to your current debt increasing as interest and charges are stopped.
• A fixed repayment period (normally five years) at the end of which all the debts in your IVA plan are cleared. At the end of the period, any outstanding balance you owe is written off.
• Reassurance that all unsecured creditors who are sent the IVA proposal must accept the arrangement - even if they don't agree with it - providing that 75% of your other creditors agree to the proposal.
• Peace of mind that it is not advertised anywhere and your employer is not informed.