Individual Voluntary Arrangements (“IVA”)
IVA's can be a really good way to solve your financial problems if you are able to make an offer to your creditors that they are likely to accept.  This normally means something better than bankruptcy.  In return, creditors will not insist on making you bankrupt, so that you can hold on to your home, carry on trading and avoid your neighbours finding out.

If you are already bankrupt, you may be able to offer your creditors an IVA to get out of bankruptcy. There are strict time limits, so it is best to do this as soon as you can.

To enter an IVA, you tell the Licensed Insolvency Practitioner about everything you own and everything you owe, and discuss with him what you can afford to offer your creditors.  Whilst we would always suggest that you make your offer as high as you can, you should always be conscious that offering more than you can afford will make it harder to stick to the agreement and may lead to the failure of the IVA.

When your offer has been prepared, it is sent to your local court with the Licensed Insolvency Practitioner's report on it, and then sent to your creditors.  They then have about 3 weeks to consider it, and vote.  Occasionally creditors will attend the meeting, but usually they will complete a proxy form telling the Licensed Insolvency Practitioner how to vote.  Sometimes creditors will accept the IVA if you agree to make certain changes, in these cases the Licensed Insolvency Practitioner will discuss the changes with you and explain what this will mean to you.

When your IVA is accepted by creditors, you will need to maintain the payments you have agreed.  Otherwise, the Licensed Insolvency Practitioner will have little choice but to fail the IVA.

If you have done everything you should have done, at the end of the IVA you will have successfully dealt with all of your debts.