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[reggieb]

Hi I have an IVA at the moment but am thinking to go bankrupt . Would this affect my wife who has a good credit rating ? Also would they look into her job or anything to do with her ?

[Melissa S]

Hi reggieb and welcome to the forum

I am sorry to hear you are struggling with your IVA but bankruptcy can be a good solution to your debt problems and it is right to do the research beforehand.

Like your IVA bankruptcy is an individual debt solution. your partners credit rating will not be affected or her job. however, you will have to declare her income as the OR official receiver will want to make sure that you are both contributing fairly to the household expenses etc.

If you jointly own a property with equity only your share is at risk however there could be an issue if you were forced to sell. have a look at the article below as this will answer many of your questions and others you may not have considered in more depth. please keep us informed and ask anything.

How-will-my-partner-be-affected-if-i-go-bankrupt

[Hayden]

Hello reggieb

Can I ask why you are thinking about going bankrupt? Are you currently struggling with your IVA payments or after consideration do you just feel that it would be a better solution for you?

As Melissa has said if you do go down the bankruptcy route your wife's credit rating will not be affected. She will also not have to give any information about her job although you will have to declare any income she has.

Do have a look at the link that Melissa posted as this gives some very useful additional information.

[reggieb]

Thanks for that. I think that is the route I will go down then. I was never really sure about that IVA in the first place and now I have had more time to think and review things I feel bankruptcy will be better for me personally. Nothing to lose as no house or anything and I take the bus to work. I have paid the IVA for 3 months what happens to that money?

[Melissa S]

Hi reggieb
I am glad you have come to a decision about bankruptcy if you need any help please let us know. There is a lot of information on this website and the experts at Beat my debt are always happy to help plus this forum.

Unfortunately the money that you have already paid to your IVA will be used to pay the IVA companies fees as unless you have been paying for over a years most of the first few months payments cover the fees.

However, at least it is a few month only and you have made the decision to change to bankruptcy earlier rather than later.

Please keep us informed of your progress. You will have to inform your IVA company that you want to fail your IVA and declare bankruptcy, this will take a few months before they will officially end it, only then can you apply for bankruptcy. in the mean time you can stop paying the IVA and save this money for the bankruptcy costs and use the time to research bankruptcy.

[Geraldine]

Hi reggieb

If you swap to bankruptcy now then the money you have paid into your IVA will be lost as the IVA company will take it for fees (this is quite legitimate). If you want to go ahead and cancel your IVA then you do need to inform your IVA company and stop making your IVA payments. They will send you confirmation that your IVA has failed but as Melissa said this could take a few months. However this gives to time to save for the bankruptcy fee which is currently £700 per person.