IVA full and final settlement

[whiskeredbattleaxe]

Hello,

I would really appreciate some advice on offering a full + final settlement to exit my IVA.

I did my IVA request through Payplan and it was agreed that we would propose £267 x 60 months. Payplan said it should go through no problems as it was a really good offer for them.

However, several weeks before my creditors meeting NatWest started court proceedings against me. Payplan told me not to worry and said they would not proceed since we had set up a creditors meeting. They (Payplan) filled in the paperwork on my behalf and opted to admit owing the full amount. A CCJ was then issued against me for the full amount + costs. To say I was stunned is an understatement. This was just days before the creditors meeting, which took place on 20th Dec. I later found out Payplan should have done an interrim order, but nothing was mentioned about this at the time.

So much for the season of goodwill, at the meeting they came back saying they would accept no less than £377 x 60 months. They also added loads of modifications which make the IVA really unfavourable. However, having taken advice from the CAB about bankruptcy, I really didn't want to go down that route. Particularly as they said they would get in touch with my ex husband regarding the sale of our house several years ago. The thought of sharing my debt problems with my ex and all our old friends was something I really wanted to avoid. So between bankruptcy and the IVA, I felt the IVA was the lesser of 2 evils.

The IVA leaves me £75 per week for housekeeping but out of this I must take clothing the whole family, vet bills (I have quite a menagerie), christmas, birthdays and treats such as outings and holidays. It was all they would allow. Plus I will have to give them 50% of any bonuses I earn and any other surplus income, including bank charges reclaimed.

I feel NatWest played a game and used the CCJ to put me in a situation where I would be forced to accept such a low surplus. My first payment is due on 1st feb.

I have discussed my situation with Greg's dad who has agreed to lend me the money to do a full and final settlement offer. My current divident is 46p in the £. If I offer 50p in the £ this comes to around £16,500 which I hope they will accept. My understanding from speaking to my case officer at Payplan is that I must write Payplan a letter outlining my proposal.

Is this the best way to proceed, or should I contact the creditors individually myself? Any advice would be very gratefully received!!

Helene

[Guest]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

How much of the total debt is owed to NatWest and are NatWest the only creditor to issue a claim against you?

As an aside, this is not the first time that I have heard of Payplan not doing as they have promised that they would.

[whiskeredbattleaxe]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

Hiya Cetelko, thank you for the prompt reply. I have 5 creditors, all have been good as gold except NW who have been unco-operative since the beginning of my dmp last year, making all sorts of excusesto delay freezing my interest, like repeatedly saying they hadn't received the financial statement etc. They're the only ones who have issued a claim, since I was paying into my dmp without fail every month. NW say the reason it escalated was because they never received the revised financial statement when they asked for a review in August, although Payplan maintain that they did send it. Unfortunately the majority of my debt is to NW, around 19k.

[Guest]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

In this case I would be sorely tempted to apply have the CCJ set aside based on the inaction and incompetence of Payplan. This should not be that difficult to do and if you have access to funds with which to pay off your creditors, then there is no reason that you need to continue to use Payplan is there?

NatWest may well be guilty of creating a unlawful preference by issuing a claim, in particular if they knew that you had other creditors and were in the process of negotiating a settlement with Payplan and in fact this may have been the reason they did so.

The problem you may have in attemtping to settle is that NatWest have now secured their interest by way of this CCJ and may be unwilling to settle for anything less than the full payment.

How is the judgment debt to be paid and how much of it is to go to NatWest?

[whiskeredbattleaxe]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

I think it was for around £150 per month until the balance is paid off. Which is a few years off before I'll be debt-free. But the IVA has superceded this.

[Guest]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

How do you feel about applying to have the CCJ set aside?

[whiskeredbattleaxe]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

I've spoken to my other half about it and he loves the idea. I do too in principle but also have some concerns, just because I don't know what that looks like yet or understand the process. The IVA terms suck but at least I get to only pay back 46p in the £, which is around 16K. Whereas if the plan backfires to set the ccj aside, I'm worried I could be back to having to pay back the whole 19K to NatWest, then find more to pay off my other creditors. And I really don't want to face bankruptcy.

Would applying to set aside the ccj affect my iva in any way?

And how do I stand legally when there is already my signature on a document saying I admit I owe the full amount? I only did this because it's what Payplan advised me to do, but in reality I've never even seen a recent statement from NW so I'm not even sure it is the right amount. Also Payplan messed up because the income + expenditure they put in was out of date, it was from early 2007 when my dmp was set up. The proposed monthly repayment was taken from this. I phoned Payplan to discuss this and we changed the income and expenditure so it was more accurate and in line with the figures in my iva proposal. But the monthly repayment remained the same. So really it's no surprise NW refused and issued judgement against me, because it looked like there was more surplus than I was offering them. I did flag this up at the time but was continually told not to worry, that it would all be fine at the creditors meeting, when they were confident they would just accept my proposal. I just took their word in good faith.

I don't want to badmouth Payplan but it really has been really difficult communicating with them because I have had so many different case officers and there doesn't seem to have been any continuity. I have had to deal with many different people and many things have not been done every time my case officer changed. Also, their client support centre is now in Portugal. The iva dept is in the uk but if they don't answer their phone it goes through to the Portugal office who can only email the person you need to speak to. This has caused huge problems for me in getting to talk to the right person at the right time. I wish now I had documented somewhere every time I tried to make a phone call, since I guess this would have given me something more tangible to discuss in court. Although maybe I can go through my telephone bills.

I know what you mean about the ccj meaning NW are less likely to want to settle, however they have accepted the iva, and with a settlement they would still get more than they would after 5 years in the iva.

Sorry about the long post!

[whiskeredbattleaxe]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

I would really like to know how I should proceed with 1) getting the ccj set aside and 2) how to offer a full and final settlement.

What does this look like in terms of logistics and what are the next steps for me?

[whiskeredbattleaxe]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

Also I have just been reading Sarafaye's post which says something about a 14 day limit to get the ccj set aside. The ccj was issued in december, so am I too late?

[thephoenix]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

Hiya, I don't know the exact answer to that question.

Under normal circumstances yes... 14 days would be the limit
BUT if you have a good enough reason for set-aside, which i feel you have
then it may and I mean MAY..... be do able.

IMO

[Sapphire]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

Hiya, sorry hun I don't know the answer either but as I say in my signature I will try to find out for you.
Cetelco seems to be well up on the CCJ subject though, he's a love and will guide you though.

[Amy]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

Also I have just been reading Sarafaye's post which says something about a 14 day limit to get the ccj set aside. The ccj was issued in december, so am I too late?

I'm not sure what Sarafaye is referring to when she mentions 14 days. As far as I understand it, you have a month to pay a CCJ in full and if you do this, then the CCJ will not be applied.

[Nattie]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

I believe the 14 days bit from sarafaye was because of the timescale involved in getting the paperwork to the court, ie, she had 28 days to get her ccj set aside. It is slightly confusing, I agree, on her thread with that aspect, but I believe she is talking about timescale to set aside a CCJ.

[whiskeredbattleaxe]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

Thanks you guys, you're all fab. I know with your help it won't be long till I'm back fighting bank charges again xxx

By the way, Greg and I were just reading my chairman's report last night. We noticed a few anomalies. They have completely missed off 3 creditors and for the ones they have included, the figures are different to those in the proposal. But it also says 100% of creditors voted in favour. Weird. Which makes me wonder if it's even legally binding now?

[Guest]

Re: IVA full and final settlement

Did you sign and return the 'Admission Form' N9A when you received the court paperwork and when doing so, did you fully understand what you were signing?

You mention above that "They (Payplan) filled in the paperwork on my behalf and opted to admit owing the full amount." So, who signed the forms, you or somebody at Payplan?

It would appear to me, that far from having your best interests at heart, Payplan have made a complete pigs ear of your situation and have made things a great deal harder for you than they need to be.

In addition and clearly they knew precisely what they were doing, NatWest have created an unlawful preference for themselves by initiating legal action prior to the creditors meeting and securing for themselves a CCJ upon which Payplan, most helpfully, admitted on your behalf, that the full amount was owed.

Regarding your creditors, if a majority of them (at least 75% of the value of the total outstanding) vote in favour of an IVA then it is carried and the IVA is legally binding, regardless of whether or not some creditors may have objected.

NatWest have attempted to circumvent the process and Payplan have allowed that to happen and their failure to grasp the basic requirements of the law in the very area which is their specific responsibility suggests incompetence on a scale which is very hard to credit.

It should be possible to have the CCJ set aside. Do not worry about time limits, there are none set in stone. In considering whether to set aside or vary a judgment, the matters to which the court must have regard include whether the person seeking to set aside the judgment made an application to do so promptly, not within any particular number of days.

The primary considerations are whether there is a defence with a real prospect of success and that justice should be done and prejudice (or the absence of it) to the claimant also has to be taken into account.

If you do not enter into the IVA and borrow the money as you have described above, how much more do NatWest get? You mention 50p in the pound instead of 46p if you followed the IVA, but if NatWest have already secured a CCJ for the full amount, they will not care about an IVA, they will simply attempt to enforce that judgment for the full amount specified on it.

I would suggest that you have nothing further to do with Payplan and apply to have the CCJ set aside and contact all your other creditors with an offer in excess of the Payplan IVA solution, which should work, given that 100% voted in favour of it at the creditors meeting.

In setting aside the CCJ, you should offer NatWest payment of the sum offered to them under the IVA, before they applied for the CCJ, but in one lump sum, instead of spread over 60 months.

You do not need to use Payplan any more, unless you have some agreement with them. I have no experience of them so am not certain what kind of contractual obligation (if any) you may be under.