The nominee fee covers the cost of taking a proposal to the Creditors.

The supervisor fee covers the running cost of the IVA.

The supervisor collects payment of IVA contributions and ensures those contributions are kept up to date.

Any money paid to third parties.

No. The weight of each vote is dependent on what percentage of the total debt is owed to the Creditor.

Yes, they can propose changes to the IVA, but (in addition to the required 75 per cent majority vote), you also have to agree to it, to make it legally binding.

As explained above, the IVA can be amended should your financial situation change (become worse or better).

It also possible to appeal against an IVA, without any changes to the financial situation.

You, the IP or Creditors.

An IVA may have some inaccurate information either about your financial health or something related to a term of the IVA. Or a Creditor may feel that their opinion was not given the weighting it should have.

28 days after the IVA was agreed or, in some cases, 28 days after the IP submits the final report back to the Court.

The appeal is submitted to the Court, as it is the Court that makes the IVA a legally binding agreement so it is only the Court that has the power to make decisions on the IVA once it has been agreed at the at the Creditors meeting.

The party that wishes to appeal must submit evidence to prove their appeal is worth being considered. If it is you who wants to make the appeal, your IP will advise you whether

a) the appeal is worthy and;
b) how to make the appeal.

This is entirely dependent on the Court.

That makes no difference as the requirement is to submit the appeal within 28 days. As long as that is achieved, the appeal will be heard via proper procedure.

The IVA is not in effect during the appeal.

The appeal can either be accepted or rejected.

If the appeal is rejected, the IVA continues as planned.

If the appeal is accepted, the Court can order a variety of measures such as cancelling the existing IVA, which means the process has to start again. Alternatively, they may suspend the existing IVA and order another Creditors meeting to consider a new proposal or even ask the existing IVA to be reconsidered.

It all depends on the nature of the appeal and submitted evidence.

The IVA automatically becomes binding to the previously unknown Creditors. There is no second vote.

They can appeal via the same process described above. They have 28 days to appeal from the date they find out about the IVA.

You can also appeal against them being a part of the IVA if, for example, you think the alleged debt owed to them is not legitimate. Your IP will advise you.

An IVA allows you to keep your property and assets while repaying a manageable portion of your debts over a period of time. This can give you the financial breathing room you need to get your finances back on track.

Also, an IVA can be used to consolidate multiple debts into a single monthly payment.

Once you have entered into an IVA, you need to get permission from your insolvency practitioner (IP) if you want to go on holiday. This is because taking a holiday could impact your ability to repay your debts. For example, if you are going abroad, you may need to pay for extra travel insurance, which could be expensive. You may also need to pay for accommodation and flights in advance, which could leave you short of money to make your monthly IVA payments.

Your responsibility is to keep up with payments as per the terms of the IVA. The payments are made to your IP, who then distributes it to your Creditors.

As explained above, any change to your financial circumstances will most likely affect the IVA. You must let your IP know. The IP will conduct an annual review with you to pick this and anything else up.

If you don’t tell your IP about a change in financial circumstances, you could be breaking the law.

Nothing will happen to your personal assets as long as they are not part of the IVA. If they are part of the IVA, your IP will assume control over them and sell them to generate funds to meet the demands of the IVA.

If your assets are initially not included in the IVA, they may be included later down the line, should your financial situation worsen as part of a renewed IVA to help you continue with repayments.

Any personal assets you need to help make repayments, will not be touched. For example, in order to run your business and make the money needed to pay the IVA, you need your car to travel there, the car remains untouched.

Tell your IP as soon as you can. If your IVA has been arranged under the IVA protocol, you are entitled to a payment break.

A set of moral guidelines to ensure that the IVA is set up fairly. It covers aspects like the contents and the terms and conditions of the IVA.

The total amount of creditors you have must equal two or more, you must have at least three debts and a regular source of income.

If you can prove your income has reduced temporarily, you’ll be eligible for a break.

Your IP will advise you. Typically, an agreement can be made to make lower monthly payments.

Up to nine months.

Your IP may be able to arrange for your monthly payments to be reduced. Your Creditors may not accept this. If this happens the IVA is cancelled/void and Creditors can now use other legal means to recover their debt.

Alternatively, your IP can sell your non-essential personal assets to generate funds for the IVA.

Your IP may be able to arrange for your monthly payments to be reduced. Your Creditors may not accept this. If this happens the IVA is cancelled/void and Creditors can now use other legal means to recover their debt.

If you do miss a payment or are late in making a payment and you don’t tell your IP, they will send your a notice of breach, which is to let you know that a payment has not been received, a request to explain why the payment was not made and a demand to make the payment.

Your IP will give you three months to respond.

Your IP could cancel the IVA and take you to Court to make you bankrupt.

As explained above, the IP could reduce your monthly repayments to an affordable amount or sell your non-essential personal assets.

Yes. To cancel an IVA, let your IP know. However, your Creditors must agree to this.

You will have to abide by the terms of the IVA. Of course, you can breach the terms and not pay, which will eventually deem the IVA as failed/void.

All communication between you and the Creditor should be done via the IP during the IVA. If a Creditor is contacting you, tell them to speak to your IP or tell your IP about the contact.

Yes. Any Creditor or debt that is not part of the IVA can be discussed and chased with you directly.

IVAs also only cover your unsecured Creditors i.e. Creditors whose debt is not secured against your assets. Therefore you are not protected from secured Creditors (such as a bank) who can take your asset away to pay for a debt e.g. a bank loan secured against your house (mortgage).

In theory, you can but given your credit score will be negatively impacted means the chances of being accepted for any borrowing are likely to be slim. In any case, it’s not good practice to borrow during an IVA.

If you lose your job while in an IVA, there are a few things that could happen. First, you may be able to continue making payments as usual if you can find another job with a similar income. However, if your new job pays less than your previous job, you may need to renegotiate the terms of your IVA. This could involve extending the length of the IVA or reducing the amount of your monthly payments. If you’re unable to continue making payments, your IVA may be declared bankrupt and your creditors will be able to pursue other methods of repayment.

The short answer is that it is possible to remortgage your house while in an IVA, but it’s not always easy. You will need to get permission from your IVA provider before you can apply for a new mortgage, and they will need to be satisfied that the new loan is affordable.

Six years from the start of the IVA.

There is no legal obligation to tell anyone about the IVA, however, the IVA will remain on a public registry know has the Individual Insolvency Register.

Three months after the IVA has successfully concluded.

An IVA agreement can be made to pay off all or some of your debt. It depends on your financial situation throughout the entire IVA and what your Creditors agree to.

The IVA will have only written off the debt that formed part of the IVA. It does not include other debt.

When someone has met all their IVA obligations, they will be issued an IVA completion certificate.

To have on record that the individual with the IVA has met their end of the bargain.

The individual who supervised the IVA (such as an insolvency practitioner).

They will issue the certificate to the creditors as well the person who had the IVA.

• It prevents any future disputes between you and creditors
• Can help secure finance in the future