Consumer Debt Counselling

Individual Voluntary Arrangements

Free impartial assistance with financial problems

Consumer Debt Counselling.co.uk belongs to a group of Licensed Insolvency Practitioners who are legally authorised to provide Individual Voluntary Arrangements.

To set up an IVA you must use a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner such as ourselves. If you think that an IVA could be a solution to your financial problems then speak to one of our debt counsellers by calling freephone 0800 043 50 43 or by completing our enquiry form.

What is an IVA?

An IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement is a legally binding agreement between you and your creditors. Under the terms of the IVA your debts are consolidated down into one single monthly payment to be paid for a fixed period of time. At the end of the IVA all the remaining debt is written off by the creditors, leaving you free of debt.

Qualifying for an IVA

To qualify for an IVA it is usually expected that you will have debts in excess of £15000 that you are unable to repay through the release of any material assets you may have. These debts should be divided between at least three separate creditors. Additionally you must be in regular employment and be able to make repayments high enough to satisfy your creditors. For the IVA to progress you must have the agreement of at least 75% of your creditors.

What amount of my debt will be written off?

There is no standard amount of debt that will be written off by entering into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement. In general however creditors are unlikely to accept an IVA in which more than two thirds of the debts are written off.

How long will the IVA last?

Generally the IVA repayments will be made for a period of up to sixty months (five years), although legally the maximum length of an IVA is seven years. There is however a large amount of flexibility and so the length of an IVA can vary significantly from case to case.

IVA or Bankruptcy?

Individual Voluntary Arrangements offer a number of advantages over bankruptcy. Entering into an IVA gives you a greater amount of flexibility and control over your debt repayments. The IVA is a private agreement and unlike bankruptcy will not be publicised in your local newspaper. A downside of IVA's however is that the qualifying criteria are quite narrow and so they aren't suitable for everyone.

As individual circumstances differ it is recommended that you consult a professional advisor such as ourselves before committing to any one solution. Our experienced debt counsellers are available on freephone 0800 043 50 43 or alternatively via our enquiry form.