
A Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) is an agreement between you and your unsecured creditors,
whereby you pay an agreed and affordable sum of money each month, usually for 5
years. The total that you pay is then divided up between your creditors, who accept
this sum in full and final settlement of all that you owe to them.
The IVA was introduced in 1986 as part of government legislation
in order to provide people in financial difficulty with a second chance. Before
1986 the choices available to individuals were fairly limited in so much that you
either muddled through as best you could by whatever informal procedures were available
to you or you opted for the only real formal procedure available, i.e. you declared
yourself bankrupt. The new legislation established a procedure that was formally
recognised but one that did not carry the same burden as bankruptcy.
An IVA can only be administered by Licensed Insolvency Practitioners
such as those at DebtMatters.
