Urgent help needed

kinetic

My aunty currently has an IVA agreement with her creditors and under the terms of the contract had been honoring the monthly payments. However, recently she has received a couple of letters from her creditors saying that she has missed her payments and has not been honoring the terms of her agreement.

She had a look into her bank account, and the monthly payment that she would normally make to her Insolvency Practitioner has been returned. She has tried phoning the them, and also written a letter, but not had any luck. She fears the worst, and thinks they may have gone under themselves.

Either way, my question is, what should she do next? Is it sensible to contact the creditors involved by herself and explain the situation? Would it just be easier to go to another IP and ask them to handle the case? I assume there needs to be an IP available at all times, to whom the payments must be made, and therefore she cannot do anything be herself anyway?

Any help would be appreciated.

MIVAA

Hi Kinetic,

Can you confirm the name of the IP that is supervising your Aunty's IVA.

If the Insolvency Practice has become insolvent itself, then this wouldn't actually impact on your Aunty's IVA, as there are mechanisms in place to make sure it doesn't.

It's possible that your Aunty might have been led to believe she has entered an IVA, when in fact she has started a DMP. If you can tell us the name of the company/IP involved it might shed some light on things.

You could also check for your Aunty's name on the Insolvency Register. A quick check should confirm whether or not she is in an IVA.

Just select "All offices England & Wales" and "All Courts", then just input her name and search for her through the results.

Let us know what you discover as it will have a bearing on the advice that comes next.

thanks,

MIVAA

kinetic

Thanks for all the help so far MIVAA. The IP (or whatever they are) in question is Carter & Carter financial.

I had a look onto the website and you are correct. There's no record of her name on that website. So what is a DMP anyway, and how do I find out if she has started that instead of an IVA?

Charco_2

A DMP is a Debt Management Plan

You pay pay money to a company and they manage your debts for you. The Industry is not regulated like other debt solutions so really you're just relying on the company you're with to be reputable.

Plans tend to be set up to run for anything from 10 to 25 years and even then there is no guarantee that you will be debt free in the end. Statistically speaking, they tend to run for 18 months before either the creditors or the debtor lose their patience.

The idea is that the DMP company will ask the creditors to freeze interest and charges on the account and the debtor pays money to the company (who will take up to 20%) and disperse the rest to the creditors.

The benefit is that your creditors eventually stop hassling you with phonecalls and letters.

serenity34_2

If she isn't in an IVA then I would strongly recommend she speaks to one of the free advice agencies such as National Debtline on freephone 0808 808 4000 as they can advise on her options in detail - it's very difficult to give accurate advice when I don't know about her full circumstances.

It may be that an iVA is a good option for her, in which case they can refer to 'protocol compliant' IVA firms who offer certain guarantees. If a DMP is an option they can refer to one of the free providers who will not take a percentage.

It may be that she could consider bankruptcy or a DRO ( Debt Relief Order ) too but tis depends on her surplus income/assets/level of debt/own feelings

I notice that Charco has a comment about CCCS being funded by banks. I will point out that National Debtline is funded by the BERR ( old DTI ) and also many large creditors. Both NDL and CCCS offer completely impartial advice regardless of who they are funded by. I'm a little concerned that the kind of comment on Charco's signature could put people off seeking good quality advice.

Both CCCS and NDL are open about where their funding comes from and are both registered charities as well as being pretty stringently monitored by the LSC ( Legal Services Comission ) in terms of the accuracy of advice given.

I'll get off my soapbox now

kinetic

Thanks a lot guys for all the help. I'll ask her to contact the NDL or CCCS and see what they have to say.

philnicandamy

Next thing you'll be telling us charco is you dont represent an IVA company either....:rolleyes:

Charco_2

Why would i say that?

In fact it was the first thing i did say when i first started posting on here. I work in insolvency - it's not a bad word!

I know and understand the industry rather well and have offered any number answers to difficult questions on this forum. All i've ever said to people thinking about an IVA or BR is to get as much info from as many people as they can before committing to anything... there are lots of companies who will talk to you for free! If anyone tries to charge you for advice then walk away!

You can talk all you like about knight in shining armour charity debt shops but they make more money than any IP firm I know.

SouthCoast

You can talk all you like about knight in shining armour charity debt shops but they make more money than any IP firm I know.

Do The Money Advice Trust and CAB fall into this category?

Charco_2

No. CAB are there for all sorts of things.

The only reservation I would have about CAB is that they don't seem to have a set policy handed down from above on lots of things. In my experience each office seems to be completely separate from another so the advice you receive in one isn't necessarily the same as you'd get in another office. It's luck of the draw type thing...

Just depends if the office near you happens to have been able to hire someone with a background in finance or not!

(i could be wrong, but's that's kind of how it was explained to me any time i've spoken to them!)