Will an IVA affect your partner?

The short version: your IVA is yours. Your partner does not sign it, is not bound by it and does not get an entry on their credit file. But couples rarely keep their finances completely separate, and the overlap is where problems arise. This guide takes each overlap in turn, explains what the IVA Protocol 2025 says, and gives examples.

Is your partner liable for your debts?

Not for debts in your name only. As Experian puts it, if your name is not on the credit agreement, you did not sign it and you are not a guarantor, in most circumstances you cannot be chased for it. The same applies the other way round.

Joint debts are different. With a joint loan, joint credit card or joint overdraft, each of you is responsible for the whole debt, not just half.

If a joint debt goes into your IVA, the creditor receives its share of your IVA payments. But your IVA does not bind your partner, so the creditor can still ask them to pay the balance.

If your partner also has debts they cannot repay, they should get their own advice before your IVA starts. Some couples each have an IVA, proposed together. These are called interlocking IVAs: each person has their own arrangement, and a jointly owned home is assessed separately for each. See can you get a joint IVA?

Will your IVA show on your partner’s credit file?

No. The IVA goes on your credit file, usually for 6 years from the date it starts. It does not go on your partner’s.

Your files become linked, as “financial associates”, only if you have joint credit or a joint bank account. Living together, marrying, entering a civil partnership or sharing a surname does not link you on its own.

If you are financially associated, a lender may look at your credit history when your partner applies for credit. Once you no longer share any finances, your partner can ask each credit reference agency to remove the link (a “disassociation”), with proof that the financial connection has ended. See how an IVA affects your credit file.

What happens to joint bank accounts?

An overdrawn joint account is a joint debt, so the section above applies: it can go into your IVA, and the bank can still ask your partner for the overdraft.

A joint account in credit is not a debt, but think about which bank it is with. If you owe money to a bank you also bank with, it may be able to take money from your accounts there to reduce the debt. This is called the right of offset. Before your IVA starts, talk to your insolvency practitioner about moving the account you use for bills and wages to a bank you do not owe.

How does the household budget work?

Your IVA payment is based on your income and expenditure, drawn up using the Standard Financial Statement. The IVA Protocol 2025 says the budget should reflect “the income and expenditure of the whole household (where appropriate)”. If it only covers you, the proposal must explain why, and the payment must be sustainable and not cause hardship.

In practice this means your insolvency practitioner will ask about your partner’s income and the household bills. Your partner is not paying your creditors. Their income is used to work out a fair share of the costs you both have, so that your IVA payment comes out of your share of the money.

Expect your partner to be asked for some evidence, such as payslips, both at the start and at each annual review. If your partner’s income changes or they move out, your budget changes too, so tell your supervisor. Our guide to how much an IVA leaves you to live on covers the budget in more detail.

What about a home you own together?

Only your share of the home is relevant to your IVA. Your partner’s share is not part of it.

For protocol IVAs from 1 July 2025, you are not asked to sell your home or release equity. Instead, your equity is worked out as 85% of the property’s value minus the mortgage and other secured borrowing, and your share of that decides the length of the IVA:

• under £10,000: 60 months
• £10,000 or more: 72 months

With a jointly owned home, the £10,000 test applies to each person’s own beneficial interest.

IVAs agreed before 1 July 2025 under the 2021 Protocol worked differently: where equity was over £5,000 and a remortgage looked possible, the home was revalued around month 54 and an attempt made to release equity. If yours is an older IVA, check your own terms. See what happens to your home in an IVA.

Do you have to tell your partner?

There is no legal requirement to. But it is hard to keep an IVA from someone you live with: the budget usually needs their income and bills, letters come to your home, and the IVA is on a public register while it runs. It may be easier to talk before the proposal goes out than to have your partner find out afterwards.

What people commonly get wrong

• “My partner will be liable for my IVA.” They are not, unless a debt is joint or they are a guarantor.
• “The whole house goes into my IVA.” Only your share of the equity is considered.
• “Living together links our credit files.” Only joint credit or a joint account does that.
• “My partner’s income will be used to pay my creditors.” It is used to work out a fair split of household costs, not to pay your debts.

If you are not sure an IVA is the right route for either of you, compare it with the alternatives, starting with IVA or debt management plan?

What to do next

1. List every debt and account, and mark which are joint. Your partner needs to know about any joint debt going into your IVA.
2. Gather your partner’s recent payslips and the household bills for the budget.
3. If your partner is struggling too, they should get their own advice. Free, impartial debt advice is available from MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice and National Debtline: see where to get free debt advice.
4. For other questions about everyday life, see life in an IVA.