Financial confidence in the UK has been rocked recently by a downturn in the economy. Many leading economists are saying that we are on the brink of the first recession since the early nineties. Between 2000 and 2006 there was a 156 per cent increase in bankruptcies in the UK. To combat this rise and the effect it has on the economy as a whole, the government introduced Individual Voluntary Agreements in 1986 as a very worthwhile alternative to bankruptcy.

An Individual Voluntary Arrangement – IVA - is a formal agreement between you and your creditors where you will come to an arrangement with people you owe money to, to make reduced payments towards the total amount of your debt in order to pay off a percentage of what you owe, then generally after 5 years your debt is classed as settled.  Due to its formal nature, an Individual Voluntary Arrangement - IVA has to be set up by a licensed professional called an Insolvency Practitioner (IP)

Providing the majority of your creditors decide to agree with your proposal and approve the affordable settlement amount, this forms a legally binding agreement or contract that prevents any of the creditors, (regardless of whether they were for or against the decision) from pursuing you any further.

Despite being set up in 1986 IVA debt help and UK IVA advice has only really become mainstream and more popular over the last two to three years. In fact in 2006 alone, there were more than 15,000 UK IVA applications that were successfully negotiated by professional IVA advisers and IVA companies based throughout the country.

The figures show that there was a 400 per cent increase in Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) between 2000 and 2006.

Many of the people who have either gone bankrupt or agreed to an IVA could have considered another option, one to take before things get out of hand: selling their home to a property buying company. Selling your house and freeing up valuable capital can often mitigate against or solve debt problems. But with the downturn in the housing market many people are struggling to sell their house. House buying companies can often solve the problems of this slow market by guaranteeing to make an offer on an property.

Selling your house in this way can allow you to often pay off your debts without incurring the stigma and hardship of bankruptcy. IVA’s can be an alternative, however they do have downsides: they are usually only suitable if the debtor has unsecured debts of at least £15,000; The home and assets of the debtor can still be at risk if the creditors decide not to exclude them; All IVAs are recorded in a public register and will almost automatically appear on your credit file. This could affect any future applications for credit. So a good option can often be to deal with debt problems before things get to the bankruptcy/IVA stage, and release the capital in your home, before you credit record is affected.