A recent spate of news stories may suggest that the days of the individual voluntary arrangement (or IVA) are numbered. And as the IVA had been a popular option for people looking for a way to get out of debt, that could be very bad news indeed.

In October 2007, a stock exchange-listed company called Debtmatters announced that it was experiencing problems in its individual voluntary arrangement department because creditors – the businesses people owe money to, like banks, mortgage companies and utility providers – were refusing to agree to the arrangements.

Did debt company signal end for individual voluntary arrangement?

Financial advice website The Motley Fool had reported that this was happening as early as August – and drew the conclusion that Debtmatters' report was signalling an end to the individual voluntary arrangement.

This would be bad news for people in debt, as the website points out, because it would take away one of the options people can consider. The alternatives are managing your finances better – always good advice, but not always a solution and easier said than done anyway; putting in place an informal debt-management plan, which can be as weak a solution as the word "informal" implies; and outright bankruptcy, which the individual voluntary arrangement was designed to avoid.

Individual voluntary arrangement: a useful option for many

Not everyone is suitable for an individual voluntary arrangement, and people should always discuss their suitability with a professional before proceeding. But as a debt solution that stops short of bankruptcy, the individual voluntary arrangement is a useful option to have, and many debtors – and creditors – have benefited from its solutions.

If it is to slowly be phased out due to pressure from the lenders then that would be sad for consumers – and bad news for the lenders themselves, who may lose more money through people choosing to declare themselves bankrupt instead.

Anyone considering an individual voluntary arrangement might find it prudent to talk to somebody sooner rather than later to consider their options.

Talk to Varden Nuttall about an individual voluntary arrangement.

Varden Nuttall has been established for more than 15 years and is dedicated to helping people in financial difficulty find a debt management solution through an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA). We employ 90 people, including trained and skilled individual voluntary arrangement administrators, we are one of the largest individual voluntary arrangement companies in the UK and handle more than three per cent of all individual voluntary arrangement applications. To find out more about the company, or to make an appointment to talk about putting an individual voluntary arrangement in place, call us today on 0800 031 9802 or fill in our online enquiry form.