What is an IVA?

When faced with overwhelming debt an Individual Voluntary Arrangement will allow you (via a third party known as an Insolvency Practitioner), to offer a formal financial proposal detailing payment amounts to your creditors

These proposed payments will be not as much as the full amount of the money owing,  however your creditors would then be accepting your formal offer in full and final settlement of their claim.

The IVA proposal would be customized to meet your individual situation but normally would entail you paying a monthly payment, a lump sum or some mixture of the two. The IVA proposal may also take into account other irregular incomes such as overtime or bonuses etc.

Creditors do have the right to choose whether to accept or reject the IVA proposal and if it’s accepted, then a legal agreement will be produced which will then be binding on both you and your creditors.

IVA advantages?

• Creditors agree to be bound by the agreement even if they did not vote in favour.
  For an IVA to be approved, those creditors who agree with the IVA and who are owed “75% of the total debt” will allow IVA proposal to be accepted.

• The total time duration for the payments will be known from the outset and if making monthly payments will normally be 5 years.

• The conditions of your IVA would be customized to suit your situation.

• Valuable assets, such as equity in property, savings, shares or cars will need to be disclosed. These will all be considered and depending on your state of affairs may be incorporated in the IVA. Therefore it’s possible to make a more sympathetic agreement than under Bankruptcy to retain your assets such as the family home.

• There are fewer limitations than in Bankruptcy such as the ability to carry on your business or to work in certain professions.

• An IVA is not reported in local legal notices like Bankruptcy cases and therefore one may feel it carries less of a stigma.

Special points for serious consideration

• Any possessions such as equity in land or property would be accounted for and you would need to talk about this with your Insolvency Practitioner so as to identify the impact on your individual state of affairs.

• The IVA arrangement will be binding on you as well as your creditors so if you fail to pay as per the agreement then the Insolvency Practitioner can formally request your Bankruptcy.

In these difficult economic times it’s hard to get an accurate and detailed view of one’s personal finances. Your bank accounts and credit cards may be in different places with no way of identifying how they all join together so managing your money can be complicated and very time-consuming.

The best system of money management should basically make managing your money easier by giving the following:

a)      A better understanding of where your money has come from and where it is going to.
b)      Allowing you to budget your finances more effectively and realistically.
c)      Help you to actually save money

Kublax has a money management tool that’s easy to use and which will help you to manage your finances effectively.
By pulling all of your financial details together, it gives you a complete view of your finances and by using easy to understand graphs to represent your expenses it makes it even clearer for you to keep track of your money.

Quick overview of spend

The Kublax pie chart offers an instant view of where your money is going. Each category displays your spend, your budget and instant access to your list of transactions. It couldn’t be simpler.

Automatic categorisation

Kublax automatically adds each of your transactions to a category. By viewing these categories over a period of months, you can track spending trends across all your accounts.

Keep on top of your finances

Kublax’s smart alerts and calendar system makes it easy to stay on top of your finances and avoid paying unnecessary overdue fees and charges by reminding you of when to pay bills. Paying your bills on time doesn’t just prevent you from paying overdue fees, it also protects your credit rating. If you’ve been stung by overdue charges by forgetting to pay a bill on time, you’ll appreciate this calendar and alerts function.

Effective money management

Good money management is central to achieving your financial goals and long term savings for the future. Effective money management will help you identify where you are spending your money and if there are any areas you can cut back on to increase your savings or pay off your debt.

Statistical Information

It should also be noted that using the data that they have extrapolated from other members allows you understand the spending habits of people in the UK.

Facing a debt crisis can feel like the end of the world. With money tight, making ends meet can seem hard enough without having to juggle your finances and with debt consolidation loans and credit cards among the ideas people might consider, choosing the right option to tackle your problems can be a minefield in itself. However, with the right debt management advice you can find solutions leading to a free debt settlement and financial stability.

When faced with mounting debt problems there are basically four options available for dealing with it for dealing with it:

1.    Debt consolidation

Debt consolidation is the borrowing more money in order to repay your existing debts. The positive point for this option is that the repayments of this new loan will be less than the existing repayments allowing you to reorganise your expenses and bring your finances back to stability.
However debt consolidation often comes at a heavy price! Lower repayments of the new loan over a longer have to be weighed up with the understanding exactly how much you will be paying back in the end – the total amount of the repayments.

Advantages

• Reduces the monthly total amount you pay on debt repayment.
• Maintain your credit rating.

Disadvantages

• Normally greatly increases the time it takes to repay your debts.
• Usually advertised only to homeowners.

2.    Debt management plan

Any business, bank or company which is owed arrears by a consumer is able to seek a judgment in the county court to reclaim their money. The court will allow that you must firstly pay your “priority” debts which are those debts which could lead to the loss of home, utilities, essential items or those items such as council tax which could theoretically lead to imprisonment. Also allowable are payments to maintain your family such as housekeeping, clothing etc. The remaining amount will be used by the court as a guide for repayments to your bank, credit card and other non-priority debts. However the banks and card companies will sometimes respond more positively if one of the debt assistance companies writes on your behalf.

Advantages

• Normalises your income and expenditure without taking on more debt.
• If you wish it can be done by yourself.

Disadvantages

• No guarantee that your creditors will accept the reduced payments option.
• The repayment period will increase.
• Your credit rating could be affected

3.    Individual Voluntary Arrangements

An “Insolvency Practitioner” will draw up a proposal on how you will repay the full amount of your debt. These payments can be over a period of time, maybe up to 5 years, or as a lump sum. The creditors agree to write off any outstanding debts once the agreed payments have been made. The calculated payment amount is usually referenced against what would be recovered should you made bankrupt and the Insolvency Practitioner costs are usually written into the agreement

Advantages

• Allows affordable repayments over a reduced timeframe.
• Offers the advantages of bankruptcy without its restrictions.

Disadvantages

• Costs can be excessive.
• You may have to pay a start-up fee.
• Payment defaulting may lead to bankruptcy
• Your credit reference files will contain details of payment default.

4.    Bankruptcy

This option can be started by either whoever owes money or by the company(s) waiting for missed payments. Financial companies such as banks will normally only consider this option if they see it as financially worth their while. This does not mean that they would not threaten to use this option in which case you should urgently take advice from either your Citizens Advice Bureau or other independent agencies. Once bankrupt a bankruptcy trustee will arrange to sell your valuable items (including you house if you are the owner) and will discuss what regular payments can be made. The trustee also has the power to examine your financial history especially prior assets which were given away or sold prior to the bankruptcy. These days those who are bankrupt for the first time can expect to be discharged after one year after which you may be required to make regular payments for up to three years.

Advantages

• Limits the repayment period.
• Gives legal protection regarding your debts.

Disadvantages

• You are under the control of the courts.
• You stand to lose assets other than those required to live.
• Utility contracts will have to with another adult living at the address.
• You are unable to hold various public offices until the bankruptcy is discharged. This also goes for directorships of limited companies.
• Credit access will be severely restricted until discharged and then higher rates will prevail until your rating slowly recovers
• Some debts are not included in the bankruptcy such as mortgages, court fines etc.
• Any finding of dishonesty can give restrictions on your bankruptcy discharge.
• It will cost you £475 for the petition for bankruptcy.

There is no correct method of tackling your debt problem only various options as detailed above so please seek creditable advice where available.

By donating business equipment to charity you get the opportunity to kill two birds with the same stone. Firstly, you get the opportunity to give to a worth cause – which can be a source of fulfillment to you as a business owner or manager, (and which you can also quote as part of your corporate social responsibility), and secondly, you also get access to some tax benefits on account of your having donated business equipment to charity.

The business equipment you donate to charity need not be anything fancy. If you can afford to give a used business van to charity, well and good. But if all you can afford to donate to charity is a computer, a printer or a scanner, then that too will usually be appreciated (the charity can always sell gifts it can’t directly use) and whatever the gift, you will still usually be in a position to ask for a tax deduction on its account.

Governments, in a bid to encourage people to donate more to charity award considerable tax deductions to businesses that donate to charity. This the governments do out of an appreciation of the fact that the activities which the charities are engaged in are activities that the governments would be forced to undertake in the absence of the same charities. In this way, charities are seen as partners with the government in the provision of the services which they provide- which could be anything from care of orphaned children, to running soup kitchens where the destitute can get something to eat to running home for the aged and shelters for the homeless. All these are activities which the governments (ideally) should be providing in every society, but the reality is that the needs tend to be so overwhelming to the governments, to the extent that some individuals or organizations (the charities) have to chip in to provide these often desperately needed services.

In many countries, the tax advantages of donating business equipment to charity are calculated in a graduated basis, such that for the first so many dollars, you are given a certain tax deduction (usually quoted as a percentage of the value of whatever you have given to the charity) with the tax deduction progressively going up with the gift you give to a charity, up to a certain level from where it is constant.

The tax advantages that accrue out of donating business equipment to charity are usually not automatic, and you normally have to request for them in your tax returns, because the government has no way of knowing that you gave to such and such a charity (and how much you gave to the charity) unless you alert the government to the fact.

The tax advantages that accrue out of donating business equipment to charity are open to abuse, and in view of this governments usually require some form of audit to crosscheck the facts. This audit should not be off-putting though, because the governments try to keep it light and nice to avoid a situation where they dissuade people from giving to charity.