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Last updated: 14/11/2023 | Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

Cancelling an IVA

If you have decided that your IVA is not beneficial to your situation or you are finding it difficult to make your repayments, you may want to consider cancelling your individual voluntary arrangement.

This guide will talk you through all the necessary steps that you must follow in order to cancel your IVA.

In This Guide:

What do I do if I am struggling to make repayments?

You need to let your insolvency practitioner know as soon as possible if you become unable to keep up with your repayments. This may be because the state of your finances has become worse since you set up your individual voluntary arrangement. If you do this straight away and you believe that your financial difficulties are only short term, you may be able to get yourself lower monthly repayments until such a time that your finances improve.

If your insolvency practitioner believes that your IVA has become detrimental to your specific circumstances, it might be that they suggest you cancel it altogether and pursue a different course of action to solving your debt problems.

Am I allowed to cancel my IVA

Although you should not take this decision lightly, you are within your rights to terminate your IVA at any point during the duration of its term. You should not decide to do this without having a long and frank discussion with your insolvency practitioner. You should ask them to explain to you in full all of the consequences that cancelling your IVA will lead to.

It might be the case that your insolvency practitioner will be able to come to a further agreement with your lenders to reduce your monthly repayments even more. There is no guarantee that this will be possible but you should definitely view this option as preferable to simply terminating your IVA.

How to terminate an individual voluntary arrangement

Once you have weighed up all of the options available to you, you will be better placed to decide if terminating your IVA is preferable to your alternatives. If you are ready to make this decision, you will need to make your position clear to your insolvency practitioner. They will proceed to end your individual voluntary arrangement and will send you a letter of confirmation.

You should contact your lenders immediately so that they know you intend to find another solution to your debt. If you do not, they will likely pursue you and may even attempt to force you into bankruptcy.