IVA Services
IVA Services
Do you have more than £15,000 worth of unsecured debt?
If so, an IVA is one solution to help you effectively manage your debt problems. An IVA is a legal agreement which works as an alternative to Bankruptcy. With an IVA, subject to creditor agreement, you pay an agreed sum each month and can be debt free usually at the end of five years.*
How does an IVA provide debt help?
An Individual Voluntary Arrangement is a formal and legally binding agreement between you and your creditors. It provides both parties with certain legal protections whilst you solve your debt problems.
Once the agreement is in place your creditors must stop all further interest and charges on your debts. All letters and phone calls from your creditors in relation to your debts should then cease. Once the 60 months have ended, and you have kept to the arrangement any outstanding debt included in the IVA is written off by your creditors.
What are the minimum criteria for an IVA?
- Three or more creditors
- Struggling with payments
- More than £15,000 of unsecured debt
- Proof of employment
- UK citizen (IVA specific for England and Wales)
Find out how an IVA could help you clear your debts - view our IVA FAQs or call 0800 096 1331 for more information.
IVAs are the specialty of our sister company Blair Endersby Ltd – experts in Individual Voluntary Arrangements.
The Insolvency Practitioners at Blair Endersby Limited are licensed by the Association of Charted Certified Accountants or Insolvency Practitioners Association.
How can Baines & Ernst help?
We provide a free initial consultation where we will discuss your personal and financial circumstances in order to assess the most appropriate financial solution for you. If, during the consultation it appears that an Individual Voluntary Arrangement is a solution for you we will offer you our IVA Service.
What does our IVA Service involve?
• Following the consultation we will provide you with our IVA Service pack, which provides further information relating to an IVA.
• We will collect the relevant documentation and paperwork from you relating to your financial circumstances
• We will review your documentation and pass your case to a qualified and licensed Insolvency Practitioner
• We will liaise with the Insolvency Practitioner (as relevant) to help ensure that they have the relevant information to progress your case.
For more information on Individual Voluntary Arrangements, view the FAQs or call us (free) on 0800 096 1331.
Whilst our initial advice on Individual Voluntary Arrangements is free, fees apply for our IVA Service and the IVA. Details of the costs and Key Information relating to our IVA Service and IVAs can be seen below and will also be notified to you in advance.
Once we have forwarded your case to the Insolvency Practitioner it will then be the Insolvency Practioner’s responsibility to liaise with you and your creditors. Should it appear that you have a viable case your Insolvency Fractionize will draft your IVA proposal and advise you of the fees for the IVA by way of a Letter of Engagement.
Fees & Key Information
For Baines & Ernst to provide the IVA Service there will be an Administration Payment. This is calculated from the financial information provided to us in the application process and is broadly equivalent to the first two months payments into the IVA. It will be used to cover our costs in collecting and reviewing your documentation and for our professional services in liaising with your creditors and for passing your case to the Insolvency Practitioner. The Administration Payment is retained by us and will not be allocated towards your IVA or paid to your Creditors and can be paid in two separate installments. A copy of our IVA Service Terms of Business can be viewed here.
We will provide the IVA Service with reasonable care and skill, but we cannot guarantee the result of the IVA Service or guarantee that your IVA proposal, as drafted by the Insolvency Practitioner (as relevant) will be accepted by your creditors. For an IVA to be approved and interest and charges to be frozen it needs to be accepted by 75% of the creditors (by value).
Once your case is passed across to the Insolvency Practitioner all the costs associated with your IVA (as relevant) are included in the payments you make in to it. You will be informed separately by a Letter of Engagement from the Insolvency Practitioner of the proposed fees, tailored to your personal circumstances before you have to commit to an IVA. Fees incurred for Individual Voluntary Arrangements are variable dependent upon the monthly contribution to the arrangement and the agreement that is reached with your creditors. Fees are made up of Nominees fees relating to assistance given to prepare your proposal and Supervisor fees which relate to the ongoing monitoring of your IVA. Fees are already included as part of your monthly contribution.
Although you may become debt free upon successful completion of the IVA, a record of your IVA will be held on your credit file for up to six years, which will affect your credit rating and your ability to obtain credit in the future. Once an Iva is approved it is listed publicly on the Individual Insolvency Register. Homeowners may be required to re-mortgage after 4 years and release available equity to pay off some or all of the debt. Alternative solutions may be offered.
You must continue to make payments in full towards any rent or mortgage, hire purchase agreements, any loan secured against property, council tax and utilities such as gas, electricity and water. However, your Insolvency Practitioner will make suitable allowances for you to be able to afford your priority debts and your day-to-day living costs before they calculate how much you can afford to pay towards your other creditors. Only unsecured debts included within the IVA may be written off at the end of the period and those not included, such as secured debts, Government fines and child support payments will remain.
In line with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 you may cancel the IVA Service at any time. You will have a cooling off period of seven working days from the date the IVA Service commences, during which you may cancel in writing and receive a refund of the administration payment paid. Please note that Individual Voluntary Arrangements are legally binding arrangements and do not have a cooling off period. If an IVA fails you will be liable for the balance of the debt and fees and this could lead to bankruptcy
We aim to provide a professional service at all times. However, if you are unhappy with the service that you have received, please follow our complaints procedure explaining why you feel we have not met your expectations.
IVA payments breakdown example:
Creditor 1: £1,260
Creditor 2: £15,000
Creditor 3: £8,900
Creditor 4: £5,900
Total debt owed £31,060
With an IVA:
60 monthly contributions of: £200
Total contributions: £12,000
Debt Write off: £19,060
61% Debt Written Off
(An example projected case: assumes no available equity, circumstances stay the same and IVA is adhered to. Debt write off applies upon successful completion.)