IVA Annual Review

As part of your IVA agreement, each year you must undergo a review of your IVA with your IP (insolvency practitioner).

An Annual Review is an opportune time to re-evaluate your finances and ensure they are still affordable for your current circumstances. Many people feel nervous at the thought of an annual review, looking into their finances in depth but it is nothing to worry about. In fact, it can work in your favour with regards to your payments and ensuring you are on the right path.

If you have undertaken your IVA with PayPlan Partnership, we will go through your income and expenditure, taking a look at your current bills and ensuring the amounts predicted in your agreement are similar. We need to see your up to date expenses to ensure your agreement works best for you.

What do I need to do to prepare for my IVA annual review?

You can help with this process by locating your recent bank statements for the past 2-3 months, as well as your pay slips for the past year. These will act as proof of your income. We recommend that if you use online banking you take a moment to log on and print these off or contacting your bank for copies.

A month before your review you should receive a copy of your current income and expenditure report. Take some time to compare this against your current bills to ensure it is correct. If anything has changed be sure to make a note. At this point we will also ask that you send in copies of those recent pay slips and bank statements you just pulled out of the file, along with your most recent P60 tax form.

The quicker these are sent in, the quicker everything can be processed. Once your review is complete you will receive a report that takes a look at the progress you’ve made with your IVA and outlining any changes that have been made. Any increases or decreases in your monthly IVA payment will be detailed and your creditors will also be sent a copy.

How do I complete my annual review?

When you enter into a plan with us, whether it is a Debt Management Plan (DMP) or an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), we will conduct an annual review on the anniversary of the start of your plan. Many people feel anxious about the review so this blog will explain the process and help you prepare. The main purpose of an Annual Review is to make sure that your payment is still affordable for you. Our aim is to ensure that you are in a sustainable plan.

One of the first things that we will look at with you is your income. If you are in an IVA you will need to provide copies of your wage slips, otherwise we will need confirmation of this.

We would also go through your expenditure with you. In our experience, this is the part of the annual review where there are most likely to be changes. With the ever-increasing insurance premiums, utility bills, fuel and general living expenses it is important that we have all of your up to date expenses so that we can see that your plan payment is still affordable.

Once we have completed your annual review we will confirm that you are managing to maintain your payments and answer any questions that you may have. In some instances your circumstances may have changed and it may be possible for you to look at other debt solutions that may now be available to you.

If you are happy with the plan that you are on you can continue without any changes.

It is our duty to provide you with all of the options available to you so that you can make an informed choice. Our main aim is to help you get out of debt in the quickest time possible.

If you are struggling with debt repayments, then please contact us on 0800 316 1833 or fill in the online referral form and we will call you back. If you are an existing Payplan client and are worried about your annual review then please call your case officer or refer to Payplan Plus.

Why could my payments increase?

If your income has increased or your outgoings have reduced significantly then you may be required to increase your monthly repayment. However, the amount you pay each month will never be unaffordable for you. IPs work hard to ensure you are always able to comfortably make repayments and set your agreement at a level that works for everyone.

But what if my income has decreased?

Be it for whatever reason, a deduction in income is a concern for many and is likely to affect your payments. However, an annual review will flag up any issues such as this and work to improve your situation.

You have a couple of options should you experience a deduction in income, first you could ask for a payment reduction of 15%. This can be arranged without consulting your creditors, but you will need the permission of your IP to go ahead.

Alternatively, your IP can request a ‘variation’ proposal, which your creditors will review and approve. They may ask that you extend your IVA to cover the costs of a lower monthly repayment though.

However, if your plan requires no changes and you are happy with the agreement you will simply continue as usual!

We can’t stress enough that your annual review is nothing to worry about; it’s there to ensure you are on the right track and improve your current situation if you are struggling.

If you do have any further queries then don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our trained experts who can offer free advice on IVAs and the process itself. If you have any queries regarding an up and coming PayPlan review, then do not hesitate to get in touch with your IVA supervisor.

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More Information on IVAs

• What is an IVA
• IVA Pros and Cons
• IVA or Debt Management Plan
• Frequently Asked Questions
• How much can be saved with an IVA?