subject: Debt Settlement Programs: The Iva [print this page] The Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) was conceived by the Government in an effort to dissuade some people with large debts from going down the bankruptcy route. To a large extent this has actually transpired and has meant that people who were struggling to pay back their debts were able to find workable debt settlement programs that are managed very professionally and effectively.
Before even contemplating this form of debt consolidation service, however, you would need to weigh up the pros and cons of what an IVA will actually mean to you. On the plus side, your debts would all be amalgamated into one fixed plan and would mean that you know where you stand in the future. Moreover, usually after a period of five years, you would be freed from the existing debt and could even see a significant debt reduction of the total amount owed at the start of the plan.
You would be allocated an Insolvency Practitioner and it will be their job to ensure that the full terms and conditions of the IVA are religiously adhered to throughout. As a form of debt settlement programs, IVAs will mean that there are certain restrictions placed upon you in terms of seeking other credit etc. IVAs will be noted on your credit history and this may even pose further problems once the full term of the arrangement has expired.
If you are interested in setting up an IVA and fervently believe that it is really the only feasible debt settlement programs that are left to you, there are several debt consolidation companies and other organisations that will be able to assist you. Before deciding on the best debt consolidation companies, it is always a very good idea to do some homework first. Research has tended to show that with IVAs, companies that have been specifically set up to aid people in such matters can work out better than charities and other organisations where staffing and other resources are restricted.
Also, in order to qualify for an IVA in the first place, the vast majority of your creditors would have to agree to this way forward and it seems that there needs to be a certain level of debt in the first instance (e.g. 15,000). Once you have secured a high majority, those creditors that are resisting this type of debt consolidation service may be forced to accept this arrangement as the only way of securing any money. This is an important and helpful feature of these types of debt settlement programs as there is always a contingency of creditors that are notorious for being very gung ho and unhelpful when it comes to retrieving what they are owed.
