Well we are nearly two years into our IVA and I must admit the second year had been a bit more difficult than the first. Everything has gone up its unbelievable but I hope to take care of this when its my review. We also have a new grandson and both daughters getting married in the next couple of years. Whilst I havent been able to help them much I have an overwhelming feeling that I’m letting them down and its this that I’m finding hard to come to terms with. No amount of common sense can change the way I am feeling.
To top it off Payplan decided to throw me a curve ball and change they way they collect overtime (talk about moving the goalposts !!) this doesn’t make a massive amount of difference but every little counts in my book !! not only that it was the realisation that they could change things half way through that upsets me, I just wonder what else they will have up their sleeve before the end. Last year I was suprised that we were allowed to keep holiday pay which helped enormously over christmas and once again this year have saved some holidays to do the same, now they tell me that I will have to pay this over in the same way as overtime, o nly fair I hear you cry !! Well no actually I dont agree why let us keep it last year and then change their mind this year, I’m gutted actually and I feel as if nothing is certain anymore in a way they have lost my trust as I dont know what they are going to come up with next.
One thing I do realise is that without overtime I’m not sure we would cope in this IVA, its not permanent overtime and we can go weeks without any but when it does arrive its very welcome. So I’m feeling a little down at the moment but I feel sure that things will even themselves out after all this was never meant to be easy was it…..
TRYING TO BE POSITIVE.
Try to be grateful for even the difficult and challenging situations that arise in your life. It is often through these situations, that we experience the most profound spiritual and emotional growth. You can learn to view each apparent obstacle, as an opportunity to develop a new quality, strength, skill, insight or wisdom and be grateful for the lessons.
Are you manging to find ways of being resourceful whilst in your IVA…I’m quite proud of my efforts I’ve always loved a bargain and it quite good fun getting what you Need/want for a lot less.
It started in the conservatory…I had an Ikea day bed in there and it just wasnt working,it was too large and not easy to sit on during the day, with no spare cash to buy anything new I decided to put the day bed on E Bay and at the same time looked for an alternative solution on there. There was some lovely conservatory furniture but priced at £800 way out of my league,
I kept looking over a few days and a lovely two seater sofa and chair just like the furniture we had looked at came on, used of course but appearing in excellent condition. The day bed meanwhile was selling well so i put a bid on the furniture I wanted. Amazingly the daybed sold for £170 I was gobsmacked and the item I was bidding on cost me £200 so only £30 to pay. My hubby went and picked it up and I’m overjoyed with it, it was in great condition and looks lovely in the conservatory. The day bed has finally gone and I’m sure they are happy too so all in all a good swap.
Bouyed by this success I wanted to change around a little in the living room I’ve always wanted a fireplace so we again bid on ebay for a firesurround and fire which we won but of course how do you pay for it…well something has to go doesnt it so my pine sideboard and an i kea chair that I no longer wanted are going on ebay hopefully to make up the cost. I’ve had a change around in the living room and once the new fireplace is in it will look like a new room. I feel a great sense of achievement ,silly I know but I’m happy that I have managed to change these things with very little cost it makes you feel like you are not having to do without whilst in the IVA, of course if you dont like secondhand this is not for you although I would defy anyone to know that my new sofa is secondhand. On a different note when I was doing my shopping online this week the daffodils were £2 a bunch (can you believe that!!) I was going to treat myself but not at that price, later I had to call in the store for an item I’d forgotten and they had some daffodils reduced for 50p whooooo I LOVE a bargain.
Well my annual review was done at the end of December and it was done a little early (much to the alarm of some of the experts on the forum !) We started our IVA in February and although it was done in December we only had one payment left for January before it should have been done. I have to say I was a little taken aback with the experts comments on the forum I was very happy that it had been done with no problems and they knocked my feet from under me. I can understand what they were saying, that it was done too early but nothing changed in that month and I am sure that Payplan know what they are doing (at least I hope they do !!)I had sent my payslips on a monthly basis, paid overtime in on a monthly basis so all that was needed was to go through my income and expenditure form how difficult is that !
Anyway for those of you who are worrying about your review I thought I would post to set your mind at ease, although I’m amazed at the different practices from company to company so I can only comment on Payplan.
Like many people I have spent hours worrying about the review,this is our first year and all of these things are milestones and I am still learning. When my case officer rang me at the end of December she took me by suprise I wasnt expecting a call until the end of January but actually I was already prepared.
Every month I send in our payslips
they check for any overtime payments and I make those straight away (to avoid temptation). So she already had all of that information,all she needed was an income and expenditure form which we did together over the phone.
She was very helpful, that first question she asked was how had we managed during our first year. We then went through the expenditure putting exactly what we spent each month and she advised me on some of the things that I was allowed to make provision for like dental,house repairs,haircuts,vets bills etc. It was very clear that she was there to help me manage the IVA in a fair way for both the creditors and us.
At the same time we both had a payrise of 3% this was backdated to august 2010 and we were allowed to keep the backdated part of this. We had to pay 50% of the payrise into the IVA but we were allowed to keep some of it.
It turned out that our payments had to increase a little bit but I wasnt too unhappy about that as our expenditure form looks manageable.
My main concern is the mortgage you’ve heard me harp on about this so I’ll just say Northern Rock ,fixed rate and you’ll know what I mean.
We discussed this and decided that we would look at this as and when the interest rates rise and I realise that there is nothing I can do about it so we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
There was one little hiccup with the calculations which I queried and guess what I was right !! This came about becauase my husband and I have seperate IVA’s but obvioulsy all our income and expenditure in my eyes is classed as one.They work out there calcluations seperate and then come up with a figure and when she added in the payrise and took the 50% she did that twice effectively taking the whole of the payrise and not half of it, its very complicated the way they do it and in the end to make my point I asked them to do it my way as one and then do it their way as two, they agreed that my figure was correct so a word of caution, try and understand your figures and if you think its incorrect make them check, they are after all only human…….
So I’m ready for my second year in the IVA and fingers crossed that it goes as quickly as the first. And please Bank of England no interest rate rise……………………
Amid all the doom and gloom its been a year of good news in our family, we are expecting our first grandchild any time now !!! eekk and my youngest daughter is getting married, her boyfriend proposed on Saturday after asking my husbands permission of course lol…..
This is tinged with a bit of sadness for me, I’m a bit old fashioned in as much as I feel its our responsibilty to pay for our daughters wedding and I know its going to be very difficult, everything is so expensive. At least my daughter knows our situation and understands we need to all save as much as we can, it wont be an expensive do but I would like a decent reception for them.
Flowers,invitations and things like that can all be done ourselves, we have some very crafty people in the family.
Its lucky really that we earn overtime because otherwise there is no way we would have any extra money to put aside.
My biggest regret is that we didnt make allowances for this kind of thing a long time ago, its very important to me as the last thing we will do for our daughter, so anyone with any money saving wedding tips will be greatly appreciated.
Changing the subject….do you know that this will be our first christmas not paid for by debt….and actually I feel quite good about it we have been very careful and I have stuck to my budget and we are on track, I really feel for those of you who are finding christmas
very difficult this year.
I’m still amazed at the differences in peoples ability to cope in an IVA but then again we dont really do much, we dont spend much on clothes or going out in fact I dont know what on earth we spent all that money on if I had to sit down and write a list of where the money went I dont think I could its ridiculous. Anyway hope you are all managing and I’ll talk to you soon.
Karen x
We are nearly 10 months into our IVA and I have to say thankfully we are not feeling too stretched,I do wonder when the review is done if things will be different. I can never shake this feeling that theres something wrong, that I’m getting more than I should be and they want it all back,I will be glad when the reveiw is done and we know where we are, I suppose its natural to feel apprehensive, this is all new and my pesimistic nature thinks something is just waiting to trip me up.
We are lucky enough to get overtime at work, it comes in fits and starts but when it is there we are very grateful,my poor husband spent a week in Newcastle they worked during the day and they also worked until 3.00am in the morning, he was exhausted when he came home but as we are allowed to keep 50% of our overtime we were very happy. My husband works very hard for us and I love him immensely I feel very guilty sometimes as I said in a previous post we havent taken many of our holidays this year so we can have them paid at the end of the year but I somehow think he’s going to need a rest soon. We are expecting our first grandchild in December so I think we will try and have a few days off after christmas. Our firm closes for a week at christmas so that will not be too bad.
We are very grateful especially whilst in the IVA for the overtime and as its not available all the time we have to grab it when it is. My darling husband you are my hero xxx
I have always spent too much money on christmas and it was always tinged with guilt especially towards the end when we knew we couldnt go on. This year obviously will have to be different but it scares me, christmas is always spoilt for me with pressure of having to buy so much. Its not pressure from my children its pressure put on myself I sort of feel as if I have failed if I dont get them lots of presents. I wish when they were small I had not made such a big thing about lots of presents and anyone with small children now I give you this advice…dont buy lots of gifts when they are young and then they wont expect it as they get older it will be normal for them. My children are grown up now yet I still feel like I need to buy them lots. They all assure me they dont want much….why cant I get over this I’m sooooo stupid.
So how am I going to cope….well instead of taking all my holidays this year I am having them paid so thankfully I will have a little bit of money but I will have to stick to a budget. Do you know that we can keep this extra money !!! I was very suprised when payplan told us we didnt have to hand it over they said as long as it states on my payslip what it is then we can keep it so I’m very releived about that. I’m very lucky that my boss has allowed me to do this I have kept 12 days back (lets face it I cant afford a holiday) I wonder if any of you can do this to help you next year it might be worth looking into.
I had an email from M&S with details of their sale the other day so I got a couple of bits at 50% off I think I will shop around on line for bargains. Luckily I dont have too many people to buy for only my children really we told other relatives not to bother a couple of years ago. So this will be the first year of spending my own money and not credit and I will definately not be overspending.
My husband and I both work for the same company, its only a small company there are 8 of us. We are all in a syndicate for the lottery, one Monday morning two of our colleagues who were brothers rang to say they wouldnt be in, as they had a very elderly mother we thought something may have happened to her. On the Wednesday morning they came back to work and one of the brothers stood in the doorway of the office and said they would be leaving I remember the look on his face very clearly (in fact it haunts me sometimes) we’ve won the lottery he said !! now he was quite a miserable bloke about 50 and he lived with his brother and his eldely mother and I knew he was telling the truth cause he was smiling,’no you havent’ I joked….yes we have won 8.5 million
sorry let me repeat that incase you didnt get it the first time 8.5 million….OMG he’s telling the truth. Now it turns out that they put our syndicate lottery on that week and at the same time bought themsleves a lucky dip ticket (are you crying yet !!) the lucky dip ticket which was bought just a few seconds from our syndicate tickets won them 8.5 million.
When they left I burst into tears I’m not ashamed to say that and they werent tears of joy I can tell you. WE were all really shell shocked,they left that morning and that was pretty much the last we saw of them. Occasionally they would come back for a visit to show us what thay had been buying or doing but I think they got the message after a few times, it was very painful for everyone and they were too tactless to see that. They still live in the area, they bought a house next door to each other and they lived happily ever after.
Its taken the rest of us a very long time to get over it sounds pathetic I know its only money after all, but it came so close and 8 million between 8 of us……well it would have been perfect. It wasnt to be and although we still do the syndicate (for a while they still wanted to be in our syndicate
even though they had left the company greedy buggers) We had to tell them no
it didnt really seem fair and also it just gave them an excuse to keep coming in and we didnt want that.
So that is my sad tale I am destined never to rich but you know I’m actually far richer than them, I have three wonderful children and they have each other…………..Money isnt everything IS IT……………………
I noticed on the forum a discussion about the price of clothing going up Clothes shopping isnt something I have every enjoyed it wasnt one of the reasons I’m in this situation. Just recently a lady who I go to choir with has commented on how I am always dressed lovely and perfectly co-ordinated,she asked me where I bought my clothes,I nearly fell off my chair laughing…I had great pleasure in telling her that I got most of my clothes from car boot sales,or ebay I’m not entirely sure she believed me but its true,even before we went into the IVA I used to do this for a start I never seem to be able to find what I want in the shops and I find it tedious. On the other hand I LOVE a bargain I try to look for decent
makes not designer just good quality, there is a great stall on our car boot and she sells clothes all laundered and hung up and I’ve had some very good things from her, she’s been around ever since my children were small 20 years ago and I used to buy things for them from her. So it was very nice to be complimented by someone on how I look. I get a great thrill when I find something that someone has paid quite a lot for and hardly worn,although buying off ebay I have had a few disasters,my main complaint in shopping like this is I end up with a wardrobe full of clothes with nothing to go with them.
I have just bought a lovely skirt off ebay but….I have no top that goes with it,so now I am going to give my wardrobe an overhaul and find the items that need pairing up. One thing I do need is some shoes…now I am not a shoe person (ie I dont have a hundred pairs) I wear my shoes until they are dropping off my feet (or someone complains about the smell lol…) So I am going to have to bite the bullet soon and buy a pair mainly for work again I never spend a lot on shoes I try and buy them in the sale. So the moral of this story is you can still look good when you have no money you just have to be a bit more resourceful.
I have a bee in my bonnet at the moment about my mortgage rate… We have just come to the end of our fixed rate and as we are with northern rock we cant remortgage with them (they are not doing any new mortgages) When we were accepted onto the IVA it was on their stipulation that we go on an interest only mortgage. Now I cant see us getting a mortgage anywhere else so we are stuck with their SVR. Although its less than we were paying we are in deep doo doo if the rates start to go up. and lets face it they will wont they…. Payplan are getting a mortgage company to give me a ring to see if they can help but I’m not holding my breath,I’ll keep you posted.
I have to say that this subject is consuming me at the moment I cant think of anything else and I’m dreading the news everyday in case they say the rates are going up. Actually thinking about my situation I cant see us getting a repayment mortgage after the 5years either so I’m not sure how I’m ever going to pay my mortgage off.
I have just tried Northern Rock to see if there was any way they would let me go back on the fixed rate but she said the part of Northern Rock my mortgage was with (the part that got into trouble) cannot make any new offers, it’s very frustrating. The rate we have at the moment is 4.79% down from 5.99% so I can comfortably accept the rates going up to that level, although I do
have a secured loan with Picture Finance so if they start playing around as well…….well I dont even want to think about it.
I have just heard from Payplan that my case worker is changing again …..Thats the second time in 6 months. I find this a bit unnerving I know I cant expect the same person to look after me throughout the IVA but you just get to know your caseworker and then they change. Its unsettling and I dont like it, its already a stressful time and I personally like a bit of continuity,I’m sure she will be fine (she’d better be) but I do wish I’d found the forum before I decided who to go with some of the IP’s on there seem so much more approachable and human. Payplan are okay but they are a faceless organisation and I’d like to get to know a person and them to get to know me.
Am I asking too much……………..
