Individual Voluntary Arrangements – The Proposal Process

An individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) begins with you completing a detailed questionnaire that will give the supervisor a clear picture of your financial situation. The supervisor will need this information to accurately prepare a proposal that will be brought forward at a meeting of all creditors. A proposal is usually completed up to two weeks after the supervisor has gathered all of the required information. The proposal will disclose your financial situation to your creditors, demonstrating to them why you are unable to pay them in full. A copy of the proposal will be sent to each and every one of your creditors. You may not choose to exclude any of them - all creditors must be included. In exceptional circumstances, a creditor can be excluded from a proposal if details are provided in the proposal and the creditor agrees to it. Once the proposal has been sent to all creditors, a meeting of the creditors will be scheduled. The creditors must be given no less than two weeks notice of such a meeting, although the meetings usually take place about six weeks after completion of the proposal, to allow time for the paperwork to go through the courts. In most cases, creditors do not bother to attend these meetings; they are simply a formality.

Because the supervisor’s fee is paid as part of the IVA, you do not need to pay a fee up front. The only other fee you will have to pay is the court costs, which amount to approximately £150. After that, the agreed-upon amount of the proposal is the total amount that you will have to pay. Once the proposal process has been completed, you need only to keep your obligation and submit your payment to the supervisor each month.