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Debts over £15,000

 0845 466 0364

For debts of £15,000 and over, we suggest you consider an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or if you live in Scotland, a Trust Deed.These are legal processes recently introduced as part of the Insolvency Act to afford individuals struggling with debt the opportunity to make a formal agreement with their creditors in order to clear their debts.

The main objective of an IVA proposal is to negotiate with creditors and demonstrate to them that accepting the proposal would be of greater benefit to both parties than the debtor being made bankrupt. Once the proposal is drafted, a creditors meeting is arranged and if the proposal is accepted by a set majority of creditors, conditions of the IVA then become legally binding on all creditors included in the proposal. Once this has happened, all creditors are legally bound to freeze any further interest and charges accruing on the outstanding debts and to restrain from taking any further actions to collect the debt.

So long as you keep within the terms of the agreement, IVA's offer the following benefits:

  • Up to 75% of the debt is legally written off.
  • You will usually be debt free in 60 months.
  • All interest and charges are frozen.
  • Less hassle paying bills as there's just one monthly payment to be made.
  • No further action (bailiffs, statements, reminders etc.) can be taken by your creditors.
  • Debtors can offset some of your debt as bad debt relief.
  • No restrictions on trading and on obtaining credit etc. which apply to bankruptcy

and perhaps most importantly, it removes all of the pressures that personal debt can bring and gives you a fresh financial start at the end of the arrangement.

It may be possible to arrange a 'Single Premium IVA' if family or friends are able to raise around 30% of the total debt. If the creditors agree the remaining debt is written off.

e.g. Mrs W was made redundant from her well paid job and had debts of £64,000. The creditors agreed to a single premium IVA with a payment of around £35,000 from her redundancy pay and she was debt-free within 8 weeks.


If you would like further advice on whether an IVA is right for you, enter your details below and we'll contact you. Our resident debt adviser, Wally Stone has over 20 years experience in finding the right debt solution for people in any situation. You can call him on 0845 466 0364 for advice on IVA's or other debt issues.

 

  • Mark S from Canterbury writes


    "Wally, your advice has been invaluable. I hadn't realised how much extra money everything was costing me due to the bank overdraft and my outstanding credit card bills. Now that I've cleared both, it's very much easier to stay within my budget. A simple bit of free information you provided to me has changed my life."

  • Mrs J from Sheffield writes:


    “Hi Wally, Just wanted to say many, many thanks for helping me get my IVA. This really is a fresh start for me now in every way. I feel very, very lucky and grateful that I picked up the phone all those months ago and spoke to you that day. You were always very positive which helped me a lot and you never judged me. You really do help change people’s lives for the better.”

  • Mr H from Solihull writes

    "What would I do without you? Well done and thanks again."

  • Mr & Mrs A from Tewkesbury wrote:


    "We would like to thank you both very much for the handling of our financial situation and for making our lives so much easier. We were extremely impressed with your professionalism and knowledge of the system, and the way in which you both gave us advice and guidance throughout the negotiations – always there to answer our questions and put our minds at ease.

    We are thankful that a satisfactory agreement was reached and that we can look forward to the future with new enthusiasm. This could not have been done so swiftly and hassle-free without you both. Thank you.”

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Did You Know

  • According to a recent statement from the Citizens Advice Bureau, it could take 77 years on average for people asking for help with debt to get back into the black.


    Britain's personal debt is increasing by £1 million every four minutes.