IVA levels ‘set to increase’

The number of people in the UK who opt to enter Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) will increase over the course of 2008, it has been claimed.

According to debt solution provider ClearDebt, an agreement on relevant protocols between the Insolvency Service, the British Bankers’ Association and IVA companies will see insolvency rates rise in months to come.

Many consumers have been denied the option of entering an IVA in recent months and ClearDebt is convinced that the newly-introduced insolvency protocols will make the process easier for all those involved.

“We are confident that the IVA level will pick up,” said David Mond, ClearDebt’s chief executive.

“The agreement… [will] remove the artificial hurdles that some member banks of the BBA have imposed on IVA proposals.”

In response to government figures that showed insolvency rates fell in the UK in the fourth quarter of last year, accountancy firm Grant Thornton asserted that an increasing number of Britons are likely to enter bankruptcy and IVAs in the early part of 2008.