It isn’t good economics for an IVA for under £20,000 to be taken on due to the fees imposed by the insolvency practitioner. The amount charged by the practitioner is very steep and problems keeping up the payments can prove very difficult. You should however seek IVA advice.
It is said that a certain amount is paid every month and gives the impression that the same amount throughout the IVA is kept to, but this is not true – the amount can change as the wage changes and as the cost of living is getting ever steeper it can prove difficult to justify your expenditures. It can seem a good way to rid yourself of the debt burden but it is for 5 years and that is a large portion of your life to commit for. If you own your own home at the end of year 4 you can be asked to re-mortgage and quite a large amount taken away from you which may mean you have paid all your debts owed anyway – considerably more than the 25% you are told you will pay.
On the other hand with bankruptcy you will automatically lose your home and if in certain employment, the police force being one of them, you will lose your job
But it is something that has to be thought about very carefully as an IVA is not an easy get out.