Debt Advice Network - anyone used them?

GaryBenefits

DAN are a registered charity but with rather peculiar registered aims - apart from promoting debt advice, they also exist to 'train independent financial advisers in debt advice' or similar words.

What is also odd is how they are funded, because it seems they are a charity who do not need to ever fundraise. They get their income from financial advisers who pay to become one of their local advisers - and also pay for training and other 'support' such as business cards etc. In many respects, they are similar to a franchise operation. DAN gets the customers in and provides some free basic debt advice apparently - but they then pass their clients (some or all - not quite sure) on to their 'local advisers' who make their money from selling IVA's, debt consolidation loans etc - i.e all the usual methods of making money from people in debt. So DAN provides 'free advice' but passes you on to people who dont. These local advisers are recouping the money they've paid DAN for the leads in effect.

A number of local councils used DAN until their methods became apparent, and the FSA are now looking at whether they should be on any recommended list of theirs. Job Centre Plus, who also endorsed them, are also reviewing the situation.

Angiepange

Hi GaryBenefits

Thanks for the information you have provided. Interesting reading. It makes it alot clearer as to why they failed to 'advise' us.

Angie x

notdan

Let me clear this up further as an EX adviser.

DAN take money off IFA's and Mortgage brokers to secure an area which is some of their income source. Another source of income is government funding.

From an advisers point of view we were lead to believe that if we saw a client for whom an IVA or debt management plan was the best option it would be passed to an Insolvency Practitioner from their panel NOT back to the adviser! Once the clients details were sent to DAN the adviser had no say in anything. A charity case would be one where the client didn't meet the criteria for a DMP/IVA/Bankruptcy and should be dealt with by DAN staff and volunteers. Saldy there are nowhere near enough staff to deal with these enquiries so they tried to pass the work back onto the advisers. If an IVA/DMP etc was sorted we should be paid for our contribution in the preparation of the plan.

We were also sold the idea that where people already had things in place like mortgages, insurance, life cover etc where we felt we could get a better deal we would be allowed to do this once the debt had been sorted. Many people, myself included joined for this reason, I am not aware of any adviser who was allowed to do this as the charity were scared that the competing charities would complain that DAN was a front for financial advisers so we didn't make a penny there either. I could have saved half a dozen people money on their insurances but wasn't allowed to even tell them this without express permission from DAN which was never granted. SO those clients are either still paying too much or have possibly cancelled the policies leaving them uninsured.

I personally saw many clients who were in need of the charities help and many months after seeing them they had not heard anything from DAN directly. Now I was pleased to help these people where I could, but I cannot keep doing that at my own expense.

As an adviser I am well aware that I would have to see quite a few charity clients where I would earn nothing but would have to spend money on fuel and phone calls and a few hours on admin, but the flip side to that was that clients who did need an IVA etc I would get paid a chunk of commission. The prospective paying cases that were submitted were all messed up by either DAN or the IP and they clients went to other firms so I made nothing after outlaying money on the course/membership, business cards, leaflets, fuel and many many hours of time.

DAN aren't the only charity that don't fundraise, CCCS are a massive and profitable organisation and I believe their CEO took home benefits in excess of the entire annual funding DAN had in 2009 so they are by no means altruistic.

I know for a fact that DAN have worked for some people though including saving people from repossession by appearing in court on their behalf. They aren't all bad and I do not think they are corrupt in any way, but I do think they are badly managed and poor at dealing with lenders.

My advice for what it's worth is to use one of the other providers, although you may be waiting 30-60 days to deal with CCCS, Payplan or CAB, something will happen right away, with DAN you may see them tomorrow but it's entirely possible that they will not do anything for you for months and months and it's not good enough.

DAN is a very good idea, being badly worked and for that reason "I'm out"

Angiepange

I would like to say thankyou to the new posters for the information they have provided here.

I am just an ordinary person who found themselves in difficult circumstances last year and was in desperate need of debt advice. My husband had been made redundant from a well paid job, I became ill and subsequently had to give up my job. Our income nose dived and although my husband fortunately, only had a month of un-employment his new job was much lesser paid. With the loss of my income too it was a struggle to pay the mortgage and feed the children.

We were desperate for help and debt advice, we had never missed a payment for anything ever in our lives and had no idea what to do next. We were told about DAN by a friend of a friend and their website seemed detailed and informative. Our first contact with them by phone really got our hopes up that with their help we could find a solution to the problems we faced. In fact we were told by them they would take care of 'everything' for us. All negotiations were to be done through them and they had amazing success with dealing with creditors. They told us we were not to speak to creditors that phoned us, or respond to any letters. They would do everything. If we did answer the phone to creditors we were told to just tell them DAN were dealing with our case and to contact DAN instead.

We believed what they said (foolishly) and so began 2 months of more hell caused by their lack of action, never being able to contact them, waiting in for promised phone calls that never happened, being told letters had been sent out to creditors (they had not), we had cancelled direct debits on their advice, changed bank accounts, the list goes on. The stress they added to our situation had such a bad effect it delayed my recovery from illness.

When it became clear we had been completely duped by DAN we sought advice elsewhere from the CCCS, National debt line, CAB etc. If only we had approached them in the first place.

I composed a long email to the head of DAN detailing our experience with them, including e-mails from our 'adviser' and a timeline of what had gone on. I received a reply that our case would be looked into and a response would be sent but of course we never heard a thing back.

I have been following this thread with interest and I finallly understand what DAN are all about. I just regret ever being involved with them as a 'client' and I have full sympathy for the people who joined this organisation wanting to help others but have lost out in the long run.

Stimorol

For what it's worth, I have also had experience with Debt Advice Network. None positive!
It angers me to read about Angiepange's shocking and in my opinion, indefensible lack of care or professionalism from an organisation that is registered as a Charity and states within their entry on The Charities Commission website to offer;
THE RELIEF OF FINANCIAL HARDSHIP BY THE PROVISION OF FREE DEBT ADVICE TO PERSONS WHO, THROUGH LACK OF MEANS AND/OR KNOWLEDGE WOULD OTHERWISE BE UNABLE TO RESOLVE THEIR FINANCIAL HARDSHIP.
If Angiepange's experience is anything to go by, (I fear that she may not be alone), then Debt Advice Network is quite clearly not only failing in their stated objective as a Charitable Organisation but actually compounding already difficult situations.
This ought not to go unreported. The Charities Commission ought to be informed.
It would also be of benefit to hear of any other experiences, both good or bad, so that a fuller picture of this organisation can be derived for the benefit of those who are in their hour of need for debt help/advice and subsequently do not have hope turn to despair.

saxon99

they really helped me and my sister and my dad. my sister was almost made bankrupt and they stopped it, the guy who helped me was very good and i completely disagree with angie, i have nothing but good things to say about them because i would have lost everything if it wasnt for them. Thank you Debt advice network!!!!!!!!

saxon99

when my dad tried CCCS they weren't interested in helping him, they were rude to him and with my sister other companies turned her down and one in particular who has been mentioned on here said there wasnt enough profit in it for them so they wouldnt be able to help her which is appaling:mad: the debt advice people don't even make money on some of the stuff they do and they go out of their way to help, i am sorry if angie had a bad experiance but i think they are the best debt help people out there today

Angiepange

saxon99 wrote: »

the guy who helped me was very good and i completely disagree with angie,

Saxon99

You are entitled to your opinion and I am pleased you had a good experience with DAN.

However I have had much information sent to me about the operation of DAN that exposes a really shocking and shoddy way of doing business and I know there are many more people like me who were let down badly by them.

Can I just say though I am genuinely glad you and your sister received the help you needed. If we had of at the time we really needed it then it would have saved us 3 months of hell.

Oh and am still waiting for the response Jo-Anido Tasende promised me on the 27 July 2009.

fenner1

My wife is a frequent visitor to this website in search of voucher deals and a while back persuaded me to trawl through the forums for people with a similar problems to ours. Much to my frustration I found that the site/forums lean very heavily towards the organisation who caused the misery we are in now, namely CCCS. We had a DMP with CCCS for just over 3 years and in that time we paid just under £300 a month. We thought we had paid around £11K off the debt so imagine our shock when we realised that our debt had actually INCREASED by £7K. The reason? No interest nor charges were frozen. So we have paid £11k for the privilege of seeing our debt increase by a further £7K. Left as it was we would be taking it to our grave.

A trusted friend suggested I have it reviewed independently and maybe think about an IVA and so began my quest to find information on this. It is then that I discovered a website called myvesta and found a lot of very useful information and guidance. To my dismay I also came across an article about CCCS on the same website and the contents made my blood boil. It is far too long to include but recommend you read it yourself. Go to the website myvesta.org.uk and search their articles for CCCS. There is an interesting one which was feature in The Times "CCCS giving best advice or acting as a debt collector". I have since stopped my DMP and have now started to receive calls on a daily basis from my creditors.

Unable to sleep, I came across this thread and as much as I dislike registering my details on websites it was a needs must in order to post a reply. So here I am.

The thread is interesting and although it doesn't really help me very much I became intrigued. I am an analyst by profession and work on facts and logic. The facts on this thread are: There is a loyal volunteer, a disloyal volunteer(?), another with a positive post, a happy customer, a very unhappy customer (Angiepange I do feel your stress believe me, but as I read it, it is the change in your circumstances that brought about bankruptcy and not because of what this organisation did or didn’t do. You are either solvent or you are not – and you , it would seem were/are insolvent – learnt all this from myvest. I am pleased you received good advice from CCCS but the flip side of this is that their “advice” will cost me £18,000 and if I had stayed with them would be heading towards bankruptcy ourselves in a few years time or take the debts to our grave - we are both 45! Once you have read the article above then you will see what sham really is and why I am as stressed as you are but you need to move on and put all this behind you and look to the future). I too am sure that I am not the only person being stitched up by CCCS either but as angry as I am with them I will not waste another ounce of energy on them.

I am particularly intrigued by the post from GaryBenefits as you don’t appear to be sure about anything and most of it appears to be hearsay and nothing factual (it’s hearsay that cost me my business 3 years ago when rumours went round that my business was in financial difficulties and so the orders stopped arriving so you can appreciate why this upsets me even if it’s done to someone else). I see nothing odd with having aims that train financial advisors in debt advice. If my financial advisor had been trained 5 years ago in giving this advice I would not be in this position today! You also say “they seem to be a charity who do not need to fundraise – are you saying that they are paid by the creditors like CCCS and Payplan? If so then I’ll stay well clear thank you. You also say that their advisors make their money from selling consolidation loans etc but the disgruntled chappie clearly says that they were not allowed to do this. You use the words like “apparently”, “not quite sure”. So how much of it is factual and how much of it is fuelling the fire? Also, did you know that CCCS charge for IVAs? Apparently they do so don't see your point.

From an outsider’s view point, there’s a lot of arm waving on what is a very short thread (compared to others). Every organisation, charity or commercial have internal problems and if you don’t like the service you move on – just as I am looking to do – you only need to see how much CCCS’ incompetence is costing me! But others have happier stories about CCCS- sadly I'm not one of them. So with one good review, one bad review and one who’s not sure about much, it looks like I will have to look up their website and find the answers myself and see how they compare with myvesta. One thing’s for sure, have to do something before the bailiffs come knocking.

Angiepange

fenner1 wrote: »

(Angiepange I do feel your stress believe me, but as I read it, it is the change in your circumstances that brought about bankruptcy and not because of what this organisation did or didn’t do. You are either solvent or you are not – and you , it would seem were/are insolvent – learnt all this from myvest. I am pleased you received good advice from CCCS but the flip side of this is that their “advice” will cost me £18,000 and if I had stayed with them would be heading towards bankruptcy ourselves in a few years time or take the debts to our grave - we are both 45! Once you have read the article above then you will see what sham really is and why I am as stressed as you are but you need to move on and put all this behind you and look to the future). I too am sure that I am not the only person being stitched up by CCCS either but as angry as I am with them I will not waste another ounce of energy on them.


Hi and thank you for your interesting post. I am truly sorry you have had such a bad experience with CCCS.

I just wanted to answer your post regarding what you said about me. Yes it was the change in our circumstances and massive drop in income that brought about our bankruptcy, I never attributed it to the inadequate advice and false promises made by Debt Advice Network. If anything they delayed the inevitable and if we hadn't been put in contact with them we would be nearly discharged now.

I have 'moved on' in a sense as we are now 7 months into BR and have dealt with everything going BR entails and had fantastic support from people who post on the 'Bankruptcy and Living With It' board.

But I keep an eye on this thread as I do still have some interest in other peoples experiences with the company, good or bad.

Good luck to you fenner1 and I really hope you find genuine help and advice to dealing with your situation.