IVA - Not going so Well 2

amenra

Hi There eveyone , I wonder if i could get some IVA advice from you all.
About 4 years ago we enrolled on a debt management program with a company called Gregory Pennington , we had around 27,500 pounds worth of debt.This had built up over a few years after i was made redundant and tried to make a living being self-employed.Myself and my partner were paying 360.00 per month between us.Anyway , after about 2 years an IVA was suggested at a cost of 200.00 pounds per month , over 5 years.
Obviously , this would reduce our debt over 5 years and reduce our monthly payment to 200.00.(lifeline)
The IVA was setup and managed by a company called Freeman Jones who promised to monitor and resolve any issues we were having, they would give us "piece of mind"
We have just completed a very hard first year on this IVA and have missed a couple of payments due to the economic climate changes and reduced salary's.At about this time , Debters statements started to arrive indicating that NO payments had been received.
I telephoned Freeman Jones , who told me that in the first year , they would keep all payments for administration reasons , but, it appears that my debters have received NO payments from before the IVA either , are we mugs ?
When a payment is missed Freeman Jones ring us 5 times a day on the home phone and mobiles and they send us texts demanding we ring them , which we do , then they make us feel be-littled and force us to make double or single payments we really can not afford.
In all honesty i don't feel we can make the required payments at all , our outgoings are minimal and we seem to have nothing left at all , by the time we have paid them.
We are really concerned as Freeman Jones are making our life a misery and constantly berate us about the fact we will be made Bankrupt , if we don't comit to the IVA's payments.We are trying , but times change , we don't have the ability to pay this amount each month , nowhere near.
We feel that our Rent and Council Tax are our priority , but we keep "robbing" from these amounts to pay Freeman Jones.When we do ring them , they belittle us and make us feel like failures , are we over reacting? All they say is you signed a contract.
But our Debts seem to be no diffrent in the last 5 years of Debt Management and IVA being involved with these companies.
We really feel that we should ask for all our money back and we should just deal with everyone ourself , can we do this? What are we to do ?
Although the total Debt is high , some of the smaller Debts are for only 120.00 pounds , we could have paid these off over 5 years by now!
I have lost confidence in the companies , but we fear the legal consequencies.We took all our Debts out in good faith that we could meet the repayments , but salary reductions have boxed us into a very tight corner ?
Can anyone hear give us some good advice..
:-(
Worried.

Last edited by amenra; Today at 11:23 AM. Reason: wrong message board - duh

saltnvinegar

Hi Amenrah

I really feel for you. You have been doing all the right things in trying to get things sorted.

Unfortunately you have been doing them with the wrong people.

I would suggest you need to speak to an impartial debt organization like the CCCS as a matter of urgency. Have a look at the thread here to get you started

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2402327

I fear that you have been taken in by one of the many scumbags that the OFT have recently highlighted.

No-one should belittle you and make you feel like a failure and if you cannot afford the IVA then potentially (without knowing the circumstances on when/how you were advised) you have been ill-informed as to what your best options were.

I'm not sure what recourse you have to get your money back from Freeman Jones if they have not paid your creditors a penny, but hopefully someone can advise you on this.

Personally I would speak to the CCCS and see what your options are and don't pay a single further penny to these clowns. It would seem they are only making your situation worse.

Best

SnV

Tixy

Hi amena

Something appears to have gone badly wrong here, whilst there are high fees for an IVA your creditors should have received some money so far. Have you got all the paper work for your IVA? the contract you signed, details of the creditors meeting etc?

You really need to get some advice as to whether your IVA is being mis-adminstrated and if so what legal recourse you might have. : IMPORTANT - Where to seek professional impartial advice about your debts.
In the first instance national debtline might be a good place to try.

amenra

Thanks S&V,
I think i just really need to know where we stand , is it worth continuing the IVA or should we stop now before we give these people anymore money that we can use to pay the debts ourselves.
Tony

annibee

Hi I used to work for another DMC delaing with DMPs and IVAs unfortunatley your not the first and wont be the last it happens to.

One reason ours didnt pay creditors was if they had an incorrect account number for one of the creditors, maybe worth ringing em to see why no payments have been sent and check all the account numbers are correct (another surprising factor is money being sent to the wrong account!ie paying off someones debts.)

I think it might be worth you contacting the free charity DM agencies as they seem better organsed and give you a little bit more control (i think)

Try not to panic just get your facts at the moment. How much you have paid and why noone has recieved anything. then worry about moving. Theres no point you paying someone to do it if its gonna cause you more stress.

Just my thoughts

Hope your ok and get sorted