IVAs, also known as Individual Voluntary Arrangements are the English, Welsh and Northern Irish equivalent of Trust Deeds in Scotland but an IVA is not exactly the same as a Trust Deed.
The length of the process is the main difference, with a Trust Deed typically lasting 4 years and an IVA lasting 5 years. Sometimes you may read about a Scottish IVA, but this is a term generally used to describe a Trust Deed.
Another difference is the amount of debt that can be included with a Trust Deed, you would typically have £5,000 of unsecured debt, and with an IVA, you can apply for an IVA with £6,000 of unsecured debt.
While an IVA may not technically be the same as a Trust Deed, there are other similarities and differences between IVAs and Trust Deeds. There are other solutions in Scotland that vary from the rest of the UK solutions including:
the Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) – DMP: Debt Management Programme (England, Wales & Northern Ireland)
Minimal Asset Process (Scotland) – DRO: Debt Relief Order (England, Wales & Northern Ireland)
Sequestration (Scotland) – Bankruptcy (England, Wales & Northern Ireland)
A key difference between the Debt Arrangement Scheme and a Debt Management Programme is that DAS allows interest and charges to be legally frozen and the DMP is a voluntary agreement between an individual and their creditors. It’s another government-created, formal solution only available to residents in Scotland, and there are plans to create a similar agreement for English, Welsh and Northern Irish residents in due course.