Are you facing severe financial difficulty? Don't know where to turn for advice? Perhaps you're worried that your creditors might declare you bankrupt any day. There is an alternative to bankruptcy, which leaves you in a much more positive position: an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA).

What is an IVA?

An IVA is an alternative to bankruptcy and many people with personal debt have turned to this solution rather than face repossession or bankruptcy. An IVA is a legal agreement between you and the people you owe money to. You come to an agreement about the amount to be paid each month during the term of the IVA. At the end of the term, your debts will be treated as clear. There are several important things to know about the IVA process:

• You will need an adviser – in order to apply for an IVA, you will need to talk to a specialist insolvency adviser. They can handle the paperwork, arrange to meet with your creditors and sort out the legal aspects of your IVA. You cannot apply for an IVA unless you have a recognised adviser to help you.

• You need to know who your creditors are – for an IVA to protect you from bankruptcy, all your creditors must be included. If you miss any creditor out and fail to pay them, they may declare you bankrupt in order to reclaim their money, even if you have n IVA in place.

• You need to make the payments – and IVA is based on the fact that you will make the agreed monthly payment. Your adviser will be able to look at your income and assets to help you work out how much you can afford, and they can then talk to your creditors on your behalf, to negotiate payment with them. You must keep up these monthly payments once they have been agreed.

This may sound like hard work, but an IVA is a lot less disruptive than declaring bankruptcy, and a lot less stressful than potentially losing your home to repossession. If you are having real money troubles, get some IVA advice today – you could have your arrangement set up in just 4 weeks.

Varden Nuttall has been established for over 15 years and is dedicated to helping people in financial difficulty find a solution through an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA). Employing 90 people, including trained and skilled IVA administrators, we are one of the largest IVA companies in the UK and handle over 3% of all IVA applications. To find out more about the company, or to make an appointment to talk about putting an IVA in place, call us today on 0800 031 9802 or fill in our online enquiry form.