An IVA is available to all Individuals, Sole Traders and Partners ("the Debtor") who are experiencing difficulty in meeting contractual payments to their unsecured creditors. This is providing they have a stable income and a surplus each month after paying for basic living costs. Typically unsecured debts should total in the region of £15,000 and typically be made up of at least three lines of debt to two or more creditors*. You can be sure which debt solution is best for you by contacting Payplan.

*These criteria are for protocol IVAs. We can put forward standard IVAs with fewer creditors and lines of debt.

Whether or not an IVA is accepted depends totally on how the creditors vote. An IVA will be accepted provided more than 75% of the creditors by value, vote in favour. If this is achieved, then the IVA is accepted and all unsecured creditors will be bound by the IVA.

An IVA must offer a higher return to creditors than would otherwise be expected were the debtor to go bankrupt.

Your creditors judge each application for an IVA on its own merits when they are considering their voting stance. Deciding factors may be: the value of assets, level of debt, monthly repayment offer, reason for the debt and newness of the debt.

Creditors will expect a high level of commitment from the debtor during the term of an IVA. Socialising, holidays, gifts, beauty treatments, gym membership or any form of savings are classed as luxury expenses and are typically not accepted by creditors as essential areas of expenditure.

Creditors also have their own criteria, which they expect an IVA proposal to meet if they are to vote in favour. The experienced Payplan staff deal with the main banks and credit card companies on a daily basis and make every effort to tailor a debtor's IVA proposal to meet the needs of the creditors involved.

As part of the process of setting up an IVA, we will assess your income and expenditure. This will help us ascertain your monthly contributions into the arrangement, ensuring that you can afford them and giving your arrangement the best possible chance of success.

Payplan do not charge up front fees to begin the IVA process. Fees vary according to the overall level of debt and are built into the regular monthly payments. A schedule showing the level of fees to be charged in an IVA is included within the IVA proposal for you and your creditors to see.

Monthly payments are usually made into an IVA over a period of 60 months (5 years).
You may be in a position to make a Full and Final offer to your creditors. This type of IVA would usually be for a period of 12 months.

An IVA will continue as long as regular payments are maintained. Defaulting on payments could result in the failure of the IVA at which point the debtor could be made bankrupt.

The following debts can be included in an IVA:

• Bank accounts
• Finance company loans
• Credit or store cards
• Outstanding VAT
• Outstanding Inland Revenue debts
• Loans from friends and family

Outstanding Hire Purchase shortfall payments on goods that you no longer have (typically repossessions or write-offs)

You must however keep up full contractual payments to your Secured debts and other priority debts (see below), an allowance for which will be made in your expenditure schedule.

Debts that cannot be included in an IVA are:

• Mortgages and loans secured on your property
• Hire Purchase Agreements (except shortfalls)
• Magistrates Court Fines, speeding/parking tickets etc
• Debts incurred through fraudulent activity
• Maintenance/CSA Arrears
• Arrears on a rental property (however you may be able to include outstanding rent on a previous property)

It's important to keep up payments as defaults can result in the failure of the IVA and may lead to bankruptcy.

When considering an IVA, it's necessary to have a stable income that will last for the duration of the IVA, typically for 60 months (5 years). However, there could be any number of reasons to cause a reduction in income which then affects your ability to keep up payments. Examples include illness, redundancy, relationship breakdown and bereavement.

Therefore, during the term of the IVA, it's vital that you speak to your supervisor as soon as you think you may have a problem making a payment. There may be options open to you, but communication with your supervisor is absolutely necessary to explore these.

The Supervisor will undertake an annual income and expenditure review to ensure the monthly payments still reflect your surplus income.

You should keep the Supervisor informed of any changes during your IVA. If there is an increase in your surplus income, your Supervisor may request up to 50% of the additional surplus, to be added to your monthly payments.

Your IVA will include a 'windfall' clause. Any assets, including lottery wins, bonus payments, gifts or inheritance have to be declared to the Supervisor and paid into the IVA for the benefit of the creditors.

An IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) is as the name suggests, individual to you. However if any of the debts were taken out in joint names, the other party will also be fully liable for that whole debt.

Your own liability for the joint debt will be taken care of by your IVA; however, the creditor can also pursue the other party for the full outstanding amount whilst your IVA is in place. Once your IVA has completed, the other party will remain liable for any remaining outstanding debt.

Unlike bankruptcy, IVAs are not published in your local paper. This is often a reason why people favour IVAs over bankruptcy as it is kept more private. Your IVA will however be noted on the Insolvency Register, held by the Insolvency Service. Any member of the public can access the Insolvency register via the Internet. Approved IVAs are also published in Stubbs Gazette, a magazine that can be requested by Insolvency Practitioners, finance companies and banks etc.

Your state pension won't be affected by entering into an IVA, however your personal pension payments may be. Creditors may vote with a modification asking you to suspend payments to a personal pension for the duration of the IVA. You would then be expected to pay this monthly amount into the IVA.

Not all pensions allow a five year suspension of payments, so if such a modification is proposed, your Supervisor will request a copy of your Pension Terms to see if this applies to you.

If you are able to comply to such a modification and there is a very good reason for you to continue contributing into your pension, it may be possible for the Supervisor to negotiate with the creditors on your behalf to find a compromise.

No. - To be nominated for an IVA (which are regulated by the Insolvency Act 1986) you will need the services of a licensed Insolvency Practitioner (IP). The IP will also supervise and review your IVA throughout the duration of the Arrangement.

If you own a property, creditors would expect a proportion of any equity to be realised and paid into the IVA towards the end of the arrangement. This might be arranged through a remortgage or by making additional payments into the IVA.

No, an IVA is legally binding as long as you keep up payments and co-operate with the Supervisor when asked to do so. Once an IVA has been approved, your creditors have no legal right to pursue you outside of the IVA, so letters and phone calls should stop.

An Interim Order prevents your creditors from taking or continuing any legal action against you. If you have any pending court action relating to your unsecured debts, your Insolvency Practitioner may apply for an Interim Order to stop this while the proposals for your IVA are being prepared.

Whilst your IVA proposals are being prepared, you may be asked to change bank accounts. This is because the banks have something called the "Right to Off-Set" which entitles them to remove money from your bank account to "off-set" against unsecured borrowings you may have with a 'linked' account such as a personal loan and/or credit card.

With a number of the large banks merging over the last 20 years, it can be confusing to know if companies are linked, so we have detailed the main ones and their subsidiaries here (Linked Creditors).

By opening a new basic bank account and using a company with whom you have no financial ties, you can ensure that your income will be safe.

If you already have an independent bank account, with no borrowings or overdraft facility, it should not be necessary to change.

Payplan is a well-established and respected company who have been providing debt advice and debt solutions for 16 years.

We work closely with our supporting organisations, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and National Debt Line, to help people who have unmanageable debts. Major banks and credit card companies also refer clients to us for help.