Helping your business through difficult times

Is your business failing? An IVA may be for you

What is an Individual Voluntary Arrangement?

McCambridge Duffy can advise and organise Individual Voluntary Arrangements for sole traders and self employed individuals. An IVA is a legal agreement between you and your creditors where you agree to pay back a portion of the debts that you owe. McCambridge Duffy can negotiate reduced payments with your creditors to agree on a sum that is affordable to you to pay. These payments go towards the total percentage of debt that you owe to your creditors.
Once you enter into an IVA you will make fixed monthly payments that will generally lasts for 60 months (5 years). In some circumstances however, an IVA can be completed in a few months, but this would normally involve introducing a Lump Sum into the IVA, hence the name Lump Sum IVA.

Some IVA arrangements can last more than 5 years to introduce payments in lieu of a remortgage (if applicable to your case). In exceptional circumstances a small number of arrangements can last more than 6 years. The length of time your IVA will last will be determined in the IVA proposal, once all of your circumstances have been taken into account.

How does a Sole Trader get an IVA approved?

In order to qualify for an IVA, there is usually a certain criteria that must be met. You would qualify for an IVA if:

  • You have debts over £15,000
  • You have 2 or more Creditors
  • You are insolvent
  • You have a regular income
  • You have a disposable income each month of around £200+
  • You are struggling with your debts

Generally to qualify for an IVA you will need debts of over £15,000 and more than two creditors. It doesn't matter whether you are a tenant or a homeowner. Due to the nature of an IVA being a formal agreement, it is not something you can set up on your own. For this reason you will need a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner like McCambridge Duffy to propose and set up the IVA for you.

Benefits of an IVA for a Sole Trader with debt problems

  • 1 easily affordable monthly payment based on your income and expenses
  • Unlike some of our competitors, we do not charge any Upfront Fees, saving you £100s
  • An IVA offers you protection from creditors
  • Creditor pressure stopped as creditors must deal with us
  • Can be complete in as little as 1 year if you can offer a lump sum payment
  • All interest frozen immediately
  • Suitable for tenants or homeowners, individuals or couples, and even business owners
  • We can setup an IVA in as little as 4 weeks

Disadvantages of an IVA

  • If you are a homeowner with equity in your property you may be required to introduce part of your share of this equity in the final year of the arrangement. A remortgage may be restricted and on less favourable terms. If you can’t get a remortgage your arrangement can be extended for up to another year.
  • If your circumstances change, and your insolvency practitioner can’t get creditors to accept amended terms, the IVA is likely to fail. You will still owe your creditors the full amount of what you owed them at the start, less whatever has been paid to them under your IVA.
  • If your IVA fails, your creditors may request that you be made bankrupt. This will always be discussed before your arrangement commences.
  • Your credit rating may be impacted for up to six years from the commencement of your IVA.

NOTE: In an IVA you will have an agreed budget for your living costs. There are allowances for this in the agreement. These expenses will be mostly based in what you currently have to pay out each month. You should declare all normal monthly expenses to your creditors so they understand your situation more clearly. There may be some restriction on some expenditure items, such as mobile phone for example.

Why use McCambridge Duffy for your Sole Trader IVA?

McCambridge Duffy have 4 full time Insolvency Practitioners working in house and we are one of the biggest Insolvency companies in the UK and Ireland. When you contact us our experienced Debt Advisors will happily go through your debt situation on the phone to see if an IVA is the best debt option for you.

We will do a detailed analysis of your situation including your income, your outgoings, your bills and debts and anything else that you would like to discuss. Once we have all the information we need we can determine whether or not an IVA is your best course of action.

Once we know your options if you decide that you want to proceed with an IVA then we will take the necessary steps, along with our highly qualified Insolvency Practitioners, to put your IVA Proposal in place and forward it to your creditors for negotiation. If all goes well with the IVA Proposal and at least 75% (by debt value) of your creditors agree to the IVA, then your IVA can be set up.

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Efficient and effective service

" I found McCambridge Duffy to deliver on what they said they would do and to do so quickly with a minimum of fuss. There were not endless phone calls and letters but they got the facts, assembled the proposal and put it in place very quickly. The process was made less stressful by the way in which they managed it."

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IVA Example

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Client was struggling with monthly debt repayments of £500 to several creditors. We were able to have this reduced to £250 per month, with all interest and charges frozen. In 60 months, any remaining debts will be written off and they will be debt free.

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McCambridge Duffy LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England and Wales.
Registered number OC309544
Registered office 17 Hanover Square, Mayfair,
London, W1s 1HT