What is an IVA? An Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) is a legally binding agreement to pay all your debts with your creditors over a period of time usually 5 to 6 years. The positive side of an IVA is since it is legally binding your creditors don’t have a choice but to stick to the agreement and they won’t be able to chase you for your debt. The downside of having an IVA is that once the IVA is in place which would normally take 5 to 6 years, you will be having a hard time to get a short term credit within that period of years because it will affect your credit rating. It would be difficult for you especially if there are family emergencies or unprecedented circumstances. In IVA you are not only paying back your debt but you are also affecting your credit rating and since it is legally binding you don’t have the option to skip payments since it will automatically be deducted from your finances since it is set up by a qualified insolvency practitioner. Since they are set up by an insolvency practitioner there are fees involved, making the IVA more expensive. An IVA will not work for you if you don’t have a fixed or permanent job since the cost for the insolvency practitioner plus the fixed monthly payments to your creditors is expensive. IVA can also affect your home mortgage if you own one; there is a big chance that you’ll have to re-mortgage it at the end of your IVA. Pensions, savings, properties and possessions may also be affected, pension money is considered as an income so whatever money you are receiving as an income will be considered as payment for the IVA. As for savings, properties and possessions there is a chance it will also be used to make payments for the IVA if in cases you switched jobs or you get a sudden unemployment for a short period of time. Best advice you might want to think it over before committing to an IVA.