Individual Voluntary Arrangements, so-called IVAs, have accounted for a record £1.4bn in bad debt written off by lenders this year, reports the Times.
IVAs were used by some 45,000 people over he year, twice the number in 2005, with those using the alternative approach to bankruptcy each having some £52,000 in debt, the paper says. Accountant KPMG estimates this figure comes on top of some 65,000 personal bankruptcies, with total individual insolvencies hitting more than 110,000 over a year for the first time ever. Banks have complained about more widespread use of IVAs among consumers as they were originally introduced by the Thatcher government to encourage more business startups not to handle personal debt problems, but are receivi...
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