IVA Fees
In an IVA, a licensed Insolvency Practitioner (IP) assigned to your case will first act as Nominee and then Supervisor, drawing a fee for both services. The level of fees they propose depends on your individual circumstances and the level of the Nominee’s and Supervisor’s fees and expenses will be detailed in your IVA proposal. These fees may be calculated as a percentage of contributions paid by you, or as a fixed fee or on a time cost basis. It will be for the creditors to decide the basis and amount of such fees.
The fees will be payable from the monthly contributions that you make.
Your creditors will decide whether the fees are reasonable and they can reduce the fees at the meeting of creditors. In effect, it is your creditors who take the burden of the fees because the fees reduce the amount that creditors receive but the amount you pay into the IVA stays the same.
Nominee’s fee
The Nominee’s fee is a fixed fee to cover the setup costs of the IVA and assistance with the preparation of the proposals:
- Preparation of your IVA proposal.
- Convening and holding the creditors meeting.
Supervisor’s fees
The Supervisor’s fees will cover the on-going supervision and maintenance of your IVA for the agreed term (usually 5 years). Your IP along with suitably qualified members of their staff will undertake some or all of the following;
- Regular reviews of your IVA
- Preparing and sending statutory reports to your unsecured creditors
- Agreeing on the level of your unsecured debts
- Making payments (paying dividends) to your creditors in accordance with the terms of your agreed IVA proposal
- Liaising with your unsecured creditors
- Liaising with you whenever you have any questions
- Re-assessing your circumstances if they change during the term of the IVA, and reporting this to creditors where necessary
- Annually assessing your income and expenditure
- Generally ensuring that the IVA runs satisfactorily for you and for your unsecured creditors
- After the Nominee’s fee has been paid, a percentage of each monthly payment will be taken as supervisor’s fees, as detailed in your IVA proposal.
Here’s an example of the fees and payments on a typical IVA:
- Based on unsecured debts of £35,000
- Based on a monthly contribution of £350
- Total paid over 60 months: £21,000
- Typical Nominee’s Fee agreed by creditors: £1,600
- Typical Supervisor’s Fee agreed: £1,750.
- Disbursements (expenses) incurred by Nominee and Supervisor: £300
- Return to creditors: 49.5p in the £1
Your IP will always tell you what fees are involved and how they are calculated before you commit to an IVA.
Note: It is essential that you keep up with your agreed monthly payments into your IVA. If at any point during the term of your IVA you feel you can no longer afford the payments agreed, you must contact your IP or their staff to discuss.
Contacting your IP to discuss any payment difficulties you are experiencing or changes in circumstances is essential, IVAs do provide an element of flexibility, you may be allowed to payment break if you come up against unexpected costs (such as essential home repairs), or the IP may be able to request that creditors agree to amended terms that suit your change of circumstances.
If you fail to keep up with your agreed payments and do not contact your IP to discuss this, your IVA may fail; leaving you liable for payment of your unsecured debts at their original contractual payment level and in some cases you may be liable for the payment of the outstanding IVA fees. If a further meeting of creditors is needed to vary the terms of your IVA, your IP may ask your creditors for permission to draw an additional fee to cover the costs.