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Archive for January, 2010

What Is An IVA?

An IVA is a formal and legally binding arrangement between you and the people you owe money your creditors to pay them back a percentage often as little as 30 of what you owe them over a 5 year term. An IVA is a legally binding agreement that protects you against any further action from people you owe money to.

An IVA is a debt solution that is recommended only when you have been through a best advice model and it is believe that it is the best possible option available.

An IVA is a contractual arrangement with creditors and can be as flexible as an individual’s own circumstances; they can therefore be based on capital income third party payments or a combination of these.

An IVA is an alternative to bankruptcy; however they are not mutually exclusive. An IVA is available to all Individuals Sole Traders and Partners “the Debtor” who are experiencing difficulty in meeting contractual payments to their unsecured creditors.

Creditors will be bound by the arrangement even if they did not vote in favour 75 by value of creditors who do vote have to vote to accept for the proposal to succeed. Creditors take a decision at a creditors’ meeting called to consider the IVA proposal.

Creditors bound by the IVA cannot take enforcement action to recover the debt but instead submit a claim in the IVA and are paid by the Supervisor.

Creditors will expect a high level of commitment from the debtor during the term of an IVA. Creditors also have their own criteria which they expect an IVA proposal to meet if they are to vote in favour. Creditors may vote with a modification asking you to suspend payments to a personal pension for the duration of the IVA.

Creditors cannot contact you and try and get money off you once this arrangement has gone ahead an interim order is normally put in place whilst the IVA is being set up to stop them from doing this in the early stages as well. Creditors allow for this when considering IVA proposals. Creditors by law have to freeze all further interest and charges once the order is in place.

It is worth noting that if you do enter into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement IVA with your creditors and you have an endowment policy linked to your mortgage then you may be expected to cash it in and pay the proceeds into the arrangement.

Proposals can take account of erratic income such as overtime or bonuses. To get an agreement to your proposal creditors that hold 75 or more of your debt must agree.

People you owe money to can suggest modifications to your proposal and you can choose whether to accept them or not. Once proposals have been drawn up you will need to check and sign these and return them to your IP who will then use this as the basis for his submission to the courts.

The IVA was established by the Insolvency Act 1986 and constitutes a formal repayment proposal presented to a debtor’s creditors via an Insolvency Practitioner.

When is an IVA Suitable?

An IVA is suitable when someone is unable to pay off their debts but does not want to file for bankruptcy. Please be aware that an IVA is intended to be an alternative to those threatened by bankruptcy not a vehicle to dump unwanted debts.

Before entering into an arrangement as formal as an IVA it is useful to get independent advice and consider all the alternatives.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Geoff Hibbert has over 30 years experience at the forefront of the uk finance marketshttp://www.creditrepairuk.co.ukhttp://www.thedebtmanagementcompany.co.uk

How The GovernmentS Financial Programs Can Help Those In Need

In this economy more and more people and families are having difficulties making ends meet. The worse off are very close to poverty and need desperately to find some help. Many of these struggling families are unaware of all the sources of potential additional income available to them. One avenue that many people in financial trouble overlook is the Earned Income Tax Credit EITC overseen by the federal government.

The EITC program is one of the United State’s primary antipoverty programs even though most people know nothing about it. It was originally created in the mid seventies to help struggling families cope. but now each year millions of available dollars in the program go unclaimed even though thousands of families would qualify for the program if they only knew of it’s existence. According to the IRS many families could increase their net income by a third simply by taking advantage of this program.

The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable federal income tax credit for low and moderate income working families. It was created primarily to reduce the amount of taxes paid by the working poor in an effort to help them to move towards income selfsufficiency. If a family qualifies they could be eligible for a tax reduction as well as supplemental dollars.

The main criteria for qualifying is that the family’s income must be “earned” hence the name of the program. You must be employed by a company and earn wages. In other words if your income is based primarily on interest from investments stock dividends and so on you probably do not qualify. Your qualification is also based on how many dependents you support. But since the rules periodically change it’s best to check with a tax professional to determine if you currently qualify. Alternatively their are websites that you can go to that contain calculators you can use to determine if you qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit and if so how much.

There are additional rules as well. In fact one of the main barriers to applying for the EITC is that through the years the application process has become so byzantine and complex that thousands of families that do know about the program either don’t try or give up in frustration after trying a few times.

But there are independent organizations out there that will help families to apply for an EITC. One such organization is the United Way. Many of their local offices will provide free tax preparation and access to the Earned Income Tax Credit and other tax credits to help working families increase their incomes and create savings.

The program is a winwin for many states as well. By taking advantage of the EITC families are less likely to become homeless which would push the burden of caring for them to the states. In addition the EITC helps to provide an economic stimulus to local communities. The Earned Income Tax Credit money that the homeowners receive is almost certain to be spent in the local stores banks restaurants and so forth.

The EITC program can potentially be a life saver for many families that are barely surviving week to week. Even if you applied for it a year or two ago and were rejected its worth trying again. Your circumstances may have drastically changed so that now you are eligible for the program.

About the writer:  Susanna Berlatsky is webmaster and owner of http://www.cardcreditdebtsettlement.com. On her site you’ll find articles about how to get out of credit card debt and other debt related topics.

Life Settlement Solution Offers Respite To The Needy For Life

With the introduction of new financial schemes and policies people are getting confused but are vying for life settlement plans for a prosperous future. However before grabbing the extraordinary deals senior citizens are also taking help of life settlement solution to safe guard themselves from unpredictable situations. It has definitely become the hour of the need.

You must be aware of the fact that a life settlement policy generally involves the sale of a life insurance policy for its market value by a senior citizen. The market value of the policy offers them a way of accessing the equity they have in their life insurance policies to fund other financial obligations or needs that may have cropped up. Thus it becomes all more important to gain knowledge on life settlement solution. In fact the life settlement solution came into existence in early era of the 90′s in the United States. It grew from the viatical life settlements of the 80′s. However before this solution the only for a policy owner could get money was to borrow against the policys cash value or to surrender it to the insurance company. However today the elderly citizens can sell their policies through a life settlement solution and get the right market value on their policies. Moreover the market value is much greater than the surrender value of the policy.

It is also true that a life settlement solution is quite similar to viatical although these life settlement programs are marketed to a different group of seniors. The life settlement solution is offered to senior citizens who are at least 65 years old and do not have suffer from any terminal illness and generally have an estimated life expectancy of 12 years or less. Therefore people get themselves insured for life; even if life plays havoc then these things can be taken care of. Hence it is a good idea to obtain life settlement solution for an uncomplicated life. However before investing in these settlement plans and programs it is advisable and necessary to take assistance from the professionals and the people who are already enrolled with life settlement solution. Otherwise if there is a lack of knowledge on your part then you may get troubled in the future.

In fact any kind of insurance policy can be used in a life settlement solution. The settlement friendly policies fall into the categories of universal survivorship term whole life and variable life insurance policies. Moreover life settlement solution offers them a chance to live life independently without anyones help. They can even cash in their life insurance in a new way like they can sell the policy to the thirdparty investor rather than their own life insurance company. Or the borrowers can hire services from life settlement brokerage firms to get the maximum out of it. However there are several companies that can guide them in procuring a life settlement solution and offer lucrative deals too. It is also a known fact that the life insurance policies only provide benefits after a point of time but life settlement solution offers longterm schemes that will benefit the investors for life.

About the writer:  William Regal is an expert in dealing with life settlement. If you have any queries about life settlement solutionlife settlement broker senior life settlement bonded life settlement visit www.mylifesettlementbroker.com