The company you start your IVA with and the people you are dealing with may not stay the same the whole way through. What happens if your IVA company has changed and what can you do if you are unhappy?
Included in this article:
- Can your IVA company change?
- What happens if the company has changed?
- Options available if you are unhappy
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Can your IVA company change?
Your may be surprised to learn that your IVA company can change at any time. The most common reason for this is that they decide to stop trading.
When this happens, the IVA clients they are managing are usually sold in a group (known as a book). They are then transferred to the new company that has bought them.
Over recent years this transfer of IVA client between different companies has happened a lot. In 2018 Harrington Brooks transferred their book to Freeman Jones. In August 2020 Vanguard transferred 6,500 clients to Ebenegate. Then in September 20 Aperture transferred around 25,000 to Jarvis Insolvency.
There is legal provision in the agreement you signed which allows your IVA to be transferred to another company without your consent.
What happens if your IVA company has changed?
You may not notice any difference at all after your IVA company changes. Your Arrangement continues to be managed in exactly the same way as before.
This is the best possible outcome and you would think it would be normal. However, it is not always the case. The new company may have a different way of working.
This could be as simple as wanting to change how you make your monthly payment.
But there could be more fundamental changes. At your annual review, they may have a different view of how your living expenses budget can be made up or how to deal with extra overtime that you earn. As a result your payments could go up.
If your new IVA company has a less generous attitude to your living expenses budget or any extra income you earn, your payments could go up.
Options available to you if you are unhappy with the new company
If you are unhappy with your new IVA company, your options are unfortunately pretty limited. Although it may seem unfair, you can’t chose to move to a different one yourself. You can consider complaining, but in reality it is unlikely to have much of an affect.
If you decide you simply can’t work with them, your only option is to cancel your current agreement. You are allowed to do this if you like, even though it is a legal agreement,.
But if you cancel, you need to understand that much if not all of your original debt will still be left owing. You therefore need to plan for dealing with it going forward.
You could start a brand new IVA. However this will mean facing 5-6 years more monthly payments. A more palatable alternative could be to just go bankrupt. Bankruptcy is often not be as bad as it sounds, particularly if you live in rented accommodation. You may not have to make further payments towards your debts.
Unhappy after your IVA company has changed? Call us for more advice (0800 011 4712) or complete the form below and we’ll call you.