Myvesta has put together this quick and easy frequently asked questions section to help you better understand the Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA).

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us. We'll be happy to answer all of your questions about IVAs, bankruptcy, debt management plans, debt consolidation, remortgaging, and other tools that people utilise to get out of debt quickly and effectively. Without any obligation or commitment you can also anonymously chat with one of our Senior Advisors online for impartial and independent 'best advice' regarding your situation.

If you are ready to get started with a Myvesta IVA right now, click here and let the journey begin.

IVA Frequently Asked Questions

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In an IVA, will my debt be frozen and total debt reduced? Yes. The IVA is an effective tool that can be used to deal with multiple debt problems without the need to petition for your own bankruptcy. As part of the Myvesta IVA process your creditors will be professionally dealt with and the IVA proposal will typically involve a large portion of your debts being forgiven (written off) by your creditors. During the IVA period all interest and charges are completely frozen and your creditors are not allowed to make contact with you.

Is an IVA a Government Approved Process? Yes. The Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) is part of the Insolvency Act of 1986 and as such is a legal statutory debt help tool that can be used to help individuals that have become over-indebted. Presently, the Government is also in the process of making the IVA process more simple and promoting this debt option more to consumers since it is such an effective tool to use to get out of debt. IVA proposals can only be put together and presented to an individuals creditors by a licensed Insolvency Practitioner. At the time of this writing there are only about 2000 licensed Insolvency Practitioners in the UK. IVA's were originally designed to provide relief to debts generated as a result of business insolvency. In recent years, increasing levels of consumer debt has led to many insolvent individuals with non-business generated debts seeking the legal protection offered within an IVA. This increased activity has resulted in proposals to restructure the current IVA legislation in order to address shortcomings within the current IVA regime. The Insolvency Service set up a Working Party of stakeholders to discuss and consider how and what improvements should be made to balance the needs of both the creditor and debtor. This consultation process resulted in the proposal for an introduction of an enhanced IVA regime to build upon the current legislation. Essentially, it has been proposed that the current IVA structure should remain to cater for 'business trader' debts and more complicated cases. However, the need for a two tier Simple IVA (SIVA) mechanism has been outlined. Here an individual with debts of less than £25,000/£30,000 would be eligible for the proposed Simple IVA 1 (SIVA 1). An individual in such circumstances would be able to enter into this arrangement without creditors voting on the proposal so long as the return in the SIVA 1 would be better than bankruptcy. The SIVA 2 arrangement would cater for individuals with debts of £25,000/£30,000 but not higher than £75,000. In such circumstances an individual’s creditors would be able to vote for or against the proposal but would not be able to attach any modifications to the arrangement. The acceptance of the SIVA 2 would be based on a simple majority of debt vote as opposed to the current 75% requirement that constitutes the current IVA legislation. It is anticipated that these legislative changed will be introduced at the end of 2006 or early 2007.

How is the Myvesta IVA Different? With the Myvesta IVA the proposal is prepared and presented to creditors via our Insolvency Practitioner partner in much the same way as other IVA proposals are prepared and presented. There are many differences however between the Myvesta IVA and a standard IVA as the focus of Myvesta is to support and assist our clients independently and from a not-for-profit perspective. Since Myvesta is involved the client has an independent party involved with them that does not represent the interests of the creditor as opposed to someone working directly with an insolvency practitioner or an insolvency practitioner accounting firm. Free Budgeting & Household Bill Paying Service Although the insolvency practitioner is responsible for the supervisory requirement of the IVA process, Myvesta has aligned its systems to enable us to extend our international expertise in budgeting and household money management in order to make the entire IVA process as convenient and easy as possible for our clients. As Myvesta is responsible for the payment processing aspect of our clients IVA agreements, we are also able to offer a budgeting and bill paying service to our clients should they wish to take advantage of this convenient and free of charge added value service. Hence for many Myvesta IVA clients not only do we collect and process the monthly IVA payment requirements but we also pay household bills such as mortgage or rent, council tax, utility bills, etc. This free service for many of our clients makes life just that little bit easier and helps with general household budgeting also. All Myvesta clients have their own Personal Account Manager and 24x7 access to their account through our secure online account access facility. The Myvesta Cashplus Pre-Paid MasterCard Recognising the need that many people have to have access to an international payment processing platform, Myvesta has introduced the Myvesta Cashplus Mastercard. This Pay-As-You-go chip and pin MasterCard facility is available to all of our IVA clients and can be use in precisely the same way as any other international MasterCard. This gives our clients the convienence of reorganising their debt but also having access to a credit card to use during the couse of their IVA. This is permitted under an IVA since this is a prepay card and not an extension of credit. The Myvesta Cashplus card does not require any credit reference checking and enables clients to have a fully functioning MasterCard that they can use conveniently without any risk of incurring credit problems of the worry of any potential late payment charges. The Myvesta Cashplus MasterCard is much more versatile than the debit cards offered by banks, even if they have a Visa or MasterCard logo on them, as part of a basic bank account provision as many of these cards can not be used overseas or on the internet and are not accepted in many retail outlets also. This can create problems for clients that have entered an IVA and only have access to the facilities and limitations offered by banks via their basic bank accounts. The Myvesta Cashplus card can have funds loaded onto it via cash payments at any Post Office or alternatively funds can be transferred directly onto the card using an online utility. Some clients choose to have their wages or salary paid directly onto the card also as they find that this is the most convenient way for them to manage their money. Income Maximisation Service Myvesta operates a full income maximisation service that is available to all of its clients free of charge should they require this service. Often the starting point for this process is to arrange for our clients to obtain a comprehensive Benefits Entitlement Check to ensure that they are receiving all of the benefits to which they are entitled. Many people automatically assume that they are simply not entitled to benefit support (Working Family Tax Credits etc) and as such do not investigate this as a possibility. Our experience at Myvesta is that one in four people who use this service discover that they are entitled to additional benefits worth over £1,100 per year. This can make a substantial difference to the monthly income received by many families. Remortgage & First Time Mortgage Service The Myvesta Mortgage Switching Service is also available to our clients and this element of the Myvesta IVA often proves to be extremely useful to those clients where there is a 5th year remortgage stipulation as part of their IVA proposal. Here we will ensure that our clients receive the best remortgage advice from FSA registered mortgage consultants vetted and approved by Myvesta UK. The Myvesta Mortgage Switching Service is also available to any Myvesta client that would like to see if they are paying too much for their current mortgage, would like to redcue their mortgage payments, or would like to investigate any money saving opportunities that could be achieved by switching mortgage provider.

Why is the Myvesta IVA Different than Standard IVAs? The Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) solution from Myvesta is more comprehensive than standard IVAs offered by the many new firms of Insolvency Practitioners that have started up over the last few years specifically to market and sell IVAs. As an independent not-for-profit organisation started in 1994, Myvesta has a responsibility to focus on ensuring that we represent the needs of our client first and foremost and to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. Regarding IVA’s, many individuals are unaware that after an IVA has been approved at a creditors meeting called by their Insolvency Practitioner (IP) the role of the Insolvency Practitioner then changes as the Insolvency Practitioner now has a legal responsibility to represent the interests of the creditors (not the debtor) in an IVA for its duration. Not at Myvesta. Because of this, Myvesta clients have the added security and comfort of knowing that we are here to represent and assist the client throughout the duration of their IVA and to liaise with the Insolvency Practitioner on their behalf should they wish us to. In short, we are there to ‘hold the hand’ of our client throughout the whole process, represent the client independently and do not represent the interests of the creditor.

How can I quickly start the Myvesta IVA process? Starting a Myvesta IVA is Simple. Start by contacting one of the Myvesta advisors either by telephoning our advice line on 0800 1116 885 or alternatively by chatting with an advisor online via the Myvesta Live Chat. Alternatively, you can fill in an online contact request form and an advisor will contact you at a convenient time specified by you. If you would like to move things forward more quickly you may wish to speed up the administrative data gathering process by completing our IVA personal financial questionnaire and returning this document back to Myvesta. To download and complete this form you should right click on this link and save the form to your desktop. You can enter information into the form , when ready to save the form then ‘save as’ a new form name and save the form to your desktop as you complete it. Once completed you can return the form back to us via fax or via mail using our freepost address.

What are the costs involved with the Myvesta IVA? As Myvesta is a not-for-profit organisation we do not charge our clients any fees at all for setting up an Individual Voluntary Arrangement. We also do not charge our clients any fees for the payment processing and household bill payment service that we provide to our clients over the entire period of the IVA. The professional fees involved in an IVA are for the work undertaken by the insolvency practitioner. With the Myvesta IVAs, the professional fees are already accounted for in the affordable IVA monthly payment. The fees that are included in with the IVA proposal are agreed to by your creditors at the creditors meeting as the creditors are writing off a large part of what you owe to them. As such most organisations assert that it is actually the creditors that pay the insolvency practitioners fees making the IVA option essentially free to the consumer. Please be aware of any organisation that require payment of large upfront fees before they will actually start to undertake any work.

Can I finish my IVA earlier than the agreed time? Yes, and this is quite a common scenario for example you have a windfall receipt of funds of (such as a gift from a friend or relative) that provides enough money to pay off the outstanding amount left in your IVA. In this scenario Myvesta will speak with your Insolvency Practitioner and another creditors meeting will be arranged to offer your creditors a lump sum early settlement offer that will allow you to exit out of the arrangement earlier. Most creditors will agree to this offer as essentially they will be getting paid much sooner than in the original proposal.

How long does it take to get an IVA in place? Typically, it will take approximately 6 weeks to actually have an IVA proposal agreed at the creditors meeting. IVA’s can however be processed in a shorter period of time (as little as 4 weeks) if the case is very straightforward and our clients provide us with the necessary documentation in a timely fashion.

Can my wife and I start a joint IVA? Yes. Indeed many couples seek the relief that can be realised by undertaking a joint IVA proposal to deal with their combined debt issues. The IVA process is not different than that involved in undertaking a single IVA proposal other than all of the couples debts are brought into the equation. The income and expenditure assessment would also take into consideration the earnings of the couple together and this would form the basis of the IVA proposal to their creditors.

What is an Interim Order? An Interim Order is court order that can be used as part of the IVA process to stop any further court recovery action being taken by an individuals creditors whilst the IVA proposal is being prepared. Insolvency Practitioners often use Interim Orders when the IVA case is likely to be more complicated and as such will take longer to put together the IVA proposal to all creditors.

IVA Resources: Learn More About the Myvesta IVA Programme Watch Online Videos About the IVA IVA Payment Calculator