An Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) could be your best solution to becoming debt free. If you find that are having debt serious problems, have more than £15,000 of unsecured debt and are unable to keep up on any minimum payments, then an IVA through One Advice could help you to become debt free in as little as 60 months and avoid bankruptcy.
An IVA is a legally binding contract, unlike a debt management plan which is an informal and flexible agreement between you and your unsecured creditors. This may sound a little concerning, but an IVA can offer you real benefits over a debt management plan.
For example, the IVA is legally binding on both you and your creditors. This means that your creditors cannot change their mind about the IVA once it has been accepted and cannot take any further legal or collection action against you, as long as you make the agreed monthly IVA payments.
The typical time-frame of an IVA is 60 months, and any debt that you have not repaid during your IVA is written off on completion. The monthly payments will also be at a level you can afford as they are based on your own personal circumstances.
These IVA advantages may sound too good to be true, but, if you fit the criteria for an IVA, you have a legal right to propose an IVA, which is subject to the agreement of your creditors.
An IVA is an instrument of public policy, in other words it is government legislation. IVAs were introduced as a less severe alternative to bankruptcy, designed to help those that are struggling with unaffordable levels of unsecured debt.
Please see our IVA FAQs page for the most frequently asked IVA questions by our clients. For free advice and information please call our One Advice IVA advisors free on 0800 048 1752.
An IVA can only be arranged for you by a licensed Insolvency Practitioner, who will put forward your IVA proposal to your unsecured creditors. Your creditors will often accept an IVA repaying less of the debt than you owe, as they won't have expensive collection costs to bear.
However, because an IVA is also legally binding on you, this means that you should not enter into an IVA if you feel as though you couldn't afford your monthly IVA repayment for the full term. The Insolvency Practitioner will agree with you what you can afford to repay each month and you need to commit to paying this amount.
Typically, an IVA is a 60 month repayment agreement between you and your unsecured creditors. At the end of the IVA, what you haven't repaid will be written off.
No other solution, except bankruptcy, can write off part of your debt.
One Advice are committed to giving you reliable information about our IVAs, and helping you to decide whether this is the best option for your circumstances.
Online we have the IVA Advice Guide, which offers you a portal of IVA information, but please do not hesitate to contact us directly. We have a team of dedicated IVA advisors who can offer you free advice about IVAs and the alternatives.
To see if you qualify for an IVA, please take the One Advice 1 Minute Debt Test which will advise you on your best debt solutions.
We can offer you free IVA advice, so call our expert One Advice IVA advisors on 0800 048 1752 to see how an IVA could work for you.