Secured Loans and IVAs: During, in the Final Year, and After Completion

Can you get a secured loan with an IVA?

It depends entirely on which stage you're at. During the IVA, new borrowing above a small threshold needs your Insolvency Practitioner's written consent, and the mainstream lender pool is closed to you — though a small specialist market exists, mostly serving the IVA's own equity clause (more on that below). After completion, you're in similar territory to a discharged bankrupt: the marker stays on your credit file for six years from the IVA's start date, but specialist lenders will consider you, with rates improving as time passes and clean conduct accumulates.

The one stage where a secured loan is not just possible but sometimes expected is the final year of the arrangement — because of how most IVA agreements treat home equity.

The equity clause: why your IVA may require this

Most homeowner IVAs written under the standard protocol include an equity clause: in the final year (typically month 54 of a 60-month arrangement), you're required to attempt to release equity from your home — usually up to a set portion of your property's value — to increase the return to creditors. If you can't release equity on acceptable terms, the IVA is commonly extended by up to 12 months of extra contributions instead.

In practice, remortgaging during an IVA is close to impossible on the high street, so the equity release almost always means a secured loan from a specialist lender that actively serves IVA cases. Your Insolvency Practitioner will usually refer you to a broker for this exercise — but you're entitled to seek your own advice, and comparing matters here as much as anywhere.

The protocol also contains important protections: the new loan repayment generally must not exceed half of your monthly IVA contribution, terms are capped, and if the available equity is below a de minimis threshold (commonly £5,000), the requirement is waived. Your IP confirms the exact terms your agreement uses — read your proposal document rather than assuming.

During the IVA: outside the equity clause

Borrowing over £500 during an IVA requires your IP's written consent — applying without it risks breaching the arrangement, which can lead to its failure and, in the worst case, bankruptcy proceedings. This applies to secured and unsecured borrowing alike.

IPs do grant consent for genuine needs — an essential vehicle, urgent home repairs — but a secured loan mid-IVA for discretionary purposes is unlikely to get consent and unlikely to find a lender. The realistic answer for most mid-IVA borrowing needs is to speak to your IP about varying the arrangement rather than borrowing around it.

After completion: how lenders view a finished IVA

The IVA marker remains on your credit file for six years from the start date — so a five-year IVA has roughly one year of visible marker left after completion, and a six-year (extended) arrangement may have none. Once the marker drops off, you're assessed on your file as it stands.

While the marker is visible, specialist adverse-credit lenders assess IVA completion much as they assess bankruptcy discharge: time since completion, conduct since, and equity. Twelve months of clean payments post-completion opens a reasonable pool; recent completion with no rebuilt credit history is placeable but at higher rates.

Keep your completion certificate safe and check all three credit files (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) a few months after completion. Accounts that were included in the IVA should show as partially settled with zero balance — errors that show them as still outstanding are common and worth correcting before any application.

Rates and realistic expectations

IVA cases price at the adverse end of the secured loan market — broadly the 8% to 18% APR range that applies to significant adverse credit in mid-2026, with the exact tier driven by time since completion, LTV, and conduct since. That's well above the clean-credit anchors (around 7.0% APRC at low LTV), but far below the unsecured rates available to someone with an IVA marker, where approval is rare and pricing frequently exceeds 40% APR.

Equity-clause loans during the final year of an IVA are a narrower market still, and pricing reflects it. The protections in the protocol (the repayment cap relative to your IVA contribution) exist precisely because this borrowing is non-discretionary — make sure any offer respects them.

As with all adverse-credit cases, combined LTV below 70% materially improves both acceptance odds and pricing. Our adverse-credit guide covers the general landscape, and our comparison uses a soft search that won't touch your credit file.

Practical next steps

If you're mid-IVA: talk to your Insolvency Practitioner before doing anything else. Consent is a condition, not a formality, and your IP can tell you exactly what your agreement's equity clause requires and when.

If you're in the final year facing the equity clause: get independent advice on the secured loan terms offered, and check them against the protocol's caps. An extension of contributions is sometimes the better outcome than an expensive loan — the comparison is worth doing properly.

If you've completed: pull all three credit files, correct any errors from the IVA accounts, and give a specialist broker your completion date and conduct history — they'll know which lenders' criteria you meet today rather than guessing.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other debt secured on it. After years of an IVA's discipline, take on new secured debt only where the affordability is genuinely comfortable — an FCA-authorised adviser can help you weigh it honestly.