An Individual Voluntary Arrangement ( IVA ) is a legal process by which you can gain protection from your unsecured creditors by entering into a legally binding repayment agreement with them which is supervised by a licensed Insolvency Practitioner.

The IVA process is suitable to those debtors who have a reasonably high level of disposable income and have a significant unsecured debt problem.

The arrangement is supervised by a licensed Insolvency Practitioner who is responsible for all negotiations with your creditors and for ensuring you make all of the payments under the terms of the arrangement.

You are normally required to make regular monthly payments, usually over a 5 year period, after which any balances on your debts are written off.

Home owners should be aware that they may have to release any equity they have by way of a secured loan or re-mortgage for inclusion into the plan.

Once an IVA has been agreed all interest and charges will be frozen.

The Insolvency Practitioner is required to review your circumstances every year and as a result you may be required to increase your monthly contributions.

You should be aware that if you enter into an IVA, this may have an adverse impact on your credit rating and you may find it difficult to obtain further credit.

The cost of an IVA is as follows: