Call free today 0161 768 4601
Write off up to 74%* of your debt with an IVA
To find out more about managing your money and getting free advice, visit Money Helper, an independent service set up to help people manage their money.
An IVA is a legal document protecting you from creditor contact and pressure through affordable monthly payments.
As a UK resident you have the right to debt relief through a variety of solutions and you could be eligible to write off part of what you owe. Debt solutions such as an Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) can be a positive way to manage problem debt.
Dependant on your circumstances, we will put an IVA payment plan together to write off any debts you can no longer afford, all interest and charges will be frozen on the date your IVA commences so you don’t need to worry about your debt growing, as long as you keep up with your new payment agreement.
Once the IVA is complete – which usually takes around five years – any outstanding debts will be written off.
To qualify for an IVA, you must:
IVA is short for Individual Voluntary Arrangement and is one way that you can manage a debt that you’re struggling to repay and avoid defaulting on your loans.
Available in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, individual voluntary arrangements allow you to make regular payments to cover all or part of your debts. Typically, these are made monthly for between five and six years and are based on the amount you can reasonably afford to pay without wiping out all your disposable income.
Not only can an IVA help you manage your debt, but they can also offer more control than bankruptcy and allow you to continue running a business if you own one. And, once you’ve entered one, an IVA will legally protect you from being pursued by your creditors.
Not everyone is eligible to enter an IVA. You’ll usually need to have at least three different creditors and a large amount of debt, but also show that you have a long-term source of income that allows you to pay something back each month.
Individual voluntary arrangements can only be used to help pay for certain types of debt. These include overdrafts, personal loans, Council Tax arrears, hire purchase agreements, credit and store cards, mortgage shortfalls, and any money owed to HMRC.
If you’re looking for IVA advice or to set up an arrangement, you’ll first need to find an insolvency practitioner. These are qualified professionals – often lawyers or accountants – that act as a go-between for you and your creditors. It’s their job to work out exactly what you can afford to repay towards your debt and how long the IVA should last. That means that you’ll have to share details of your financial situation with them including your assets, income, and list of creditors, so it’s important that you find an insolvency practitioner you can trust. Some practitioners work independently while others provide IVA debt help through a debt management company.
Your insolvency practitioner will contact your creditors on your behalf. The creditors holding 74% of your total debt will have to agree to the IVA and, if they do, it will apply to everyone you owe.
Individual voluntary arrangements are formal, legally binding, and approved by the court. Once up and running, you’ll make each payment to your insolvency practitioner, and they’ll divide the money between your creditors.
There are fees involved to get IVA debt help from an insolvency practitioner and it can be a more expensive solution than other debt management options. Expect to pay an initial set-up fee as well as handling fee each time you make a payment. These fees can be based on your total debt but it’s always worth getting costs upfront, so you won’t be blindsided later. Even so, the good news is that you probably won’t notice them once your IVA is up and running as they will be taken from your affordable monthly repayment.
Your IVA will be added to the Individual Insolvency Register but this will be removed three months after the agreement ends. Even so, it will remain on your credit report for six years and may impact your chances of securing future loans.
If you reach the end of the individual voluntary arrangement and have kept up with your repayments throughout then, even if you haven’t covered the original debt in full, you won’t have to pay any more unless you get a windfall. In that case, this additional money can be taken to pay your creditors, even if the IVA is over.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that the IVA can be cancelled by your insolvency practitioner if you don’t make all the payments, and this can lead to bankruptcy.
We will look through all your income and outgoings working out how much you can realistically afford to pay back towards your debts and have enough money to pay all your everyday living costs like, food, rent, bills etc. Everything that you can afford we will put into an IVA proposal under the supervision of our IVA practitioner to write this off.
Unfortunately, not everyone will qualify for an IVA, but our friendly and experienced advisors are on hand to guide you through the process and talk you through all of your options based on your personal situation.
*based on the percentage of debt forgiveness upon completion.
Lucy Novo Deakin is a licensed insolvency practitioner in the UK by the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA).
My Debt Plan Ltd provides insolvency solutions to individuals, specialising in IVA’s. All advice given is provided in reasonable contemplation of an insolvency appointment. Where you are not suitable for an IVA, we may refer you to one of our trusted partners who specialise on alternative solutions, and as such we will receive payment for the introduction if you enter into a debt solution with one of our partner companies.
Registered address 2nd Floor Blenheim Court, Cheadle, Cheshire, England, SK8 2JY Company Registered in England and Wales Number 10992838 Data Protection ZB284067.
To find out more about managing your money and getting free advice, visit Money Helper, an independent service set up to help people manage their money.
*Our advice on your options is always free. We will always notify you if a solution you choose has any cost.
**Of 2,381 IVA cases approved between January-December 2023, the average expected write off assuming successful completion is 74%.
A debt write off amount between 25% and 75% is realistic, however, the debt write off amount will differ for each customer upon their individual financial circumstances and is subject to approval of their creditors. Any remaining qualifying unsecured debt in your IVA will be written off, however some unsecured debts will be excluded, such as court fines, child maintenance and student loans, therefore you will need to continue paying these both during and after the IVA.
