* Only available  in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Please note, when entering an IVA, your details will be added to the Individual Insolvency Register as per CONC 3.9.3(14).

What is an IVA?

An Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) is an agreement with your creditors to pay all or part of your debts.

You agree to make regular payments to an insolvency practitioner, who will divide this money between your creditors. An IVA can give you more control of your assets than bankruptcy.

Should an IVA be the best option, our experienced agents will run you through the whole process before you commit to an arrangement.

We’ll review your financial situation to determine your level of debt and what you can afford to repay each month.

Our debt experts begin the IVA process by checking your income, expenses, and debt level.  We then work with you to check out all your options and confirm if an IVA would work best in your specific situation. If an IVA is right for you, we will determine a monthly amount that you can realistically afford to repay each month.

Provided you maintain payments, all unpaid debt is written off at the end of the IVA, which typically lasts 60 months (5 years).

Please Note: By entering an IVA, you will be entered onto a public register.

Debts Included in an IVA

An IVA would cover most of your unsecured debts. Debts covered by IVA include:

• Overdrafts
• Personal loans and catalogue debts
• Council Tax arrears
• Hire purchase debts
• Credit and store cards
• Mortgage shortfall
• The money you owe to HMRC e-g income tax
• Gas, electricity, and water bill arrears
• Benefit overpayments
• Payday loans
• Informal debts from family and friends
• Joint debts, but the other person must also make payments
• Tax credit
• National insurance arrears

Benefits of an IVA

• One affordable, monthly payment made for a fixed period of time.
• Unaffordable debt written off on successful completion of your approved IVA.
• Legal Protection – following approval of an IVA, creditors can’t take further action to enforce recovery of the debt, and all interest and charges are frozen.
• The fees charged are taken from the affordable monthly payment you make over the agreed term of the IVA.

Risks to consider

(a) If the arrangement or deed fails, the risk of bankruptcy;
(b) Homeowners may need to release equity from the value of their homes to pay off debts, and that a re-mortgage may attract higher interest rates or, if no re-mortgage is available, an individual voluntary arrangement may be extended for 12 months;
(c) There are restrictions on the expenditure of a person who enters into an individual voluntary arrangement or a protected trust deed;
(d) The customer's lenders or owners may not approve the individual voluntary arrangement or the protected trust deed;
(e) Only unsecured debts included within the individual voluntary arrangement or protected trust deed may be discharged at the end of the period and unsecured debts not included remain outstanding;
(f) Negative effect on credit rating and ability to source credit, restrictions on obtaining credit