IVA rip-off?

Paul150

My IVA has just finished, but still shows on my credit report, I understand it is removed on the 6th anniversary of the IVA being taken out. I took it out in February 2006, so I'm looking forward to seeing it removed in February 2012.

Anyway, I last looked at my credit score maybe a year ago and it had all of my creditors on there that were on my IVA, yet now, I have just run off a credit report and all of those creditors do not appear on there, just my IVA and current bank account and things like mobile phone contracts.

So, does a credit card/loan debt get removed after a certain period anyway? I'm just wondering whether I would've just been better spending the last 5 years ignoring any letters, afterall, I don't own a house or anything of significant value.

Tixy

Debts are removed from your file 6years after a default or 6years after settled (if there wasn't a default).

I doubt you would have been better just ignoring the letters, as CCJs would have been likely to start appearing on your file and possibly bailiffs at your door and attachment of earnings orders etc.

fermi

An account is removed from your report 6 years after an account was defaulted or settled. Whichever occurs first.

Defaulted accounts would still have come off your report if you had ignored them. True.

However, the creditors may have taken out CCJs etc, which not only would go on your credit reports as extra black marks, they would stay for 6 years from the judgement date. That may have been many years down the line, so messing up your report for more than 6 years.

Paul150

It just got me wondering, because an IVA stays on my file for 6 years, so does a CCJ, and now, so I've discovered, the debt is wiped after 6 years anyway. I had a CCJ that I ignored and that has gone from my file. I ignored that on principal as it was something I disagreed with paying straight away and decided that that company wasn't getting a penny from me.

Bailiffs? I don't own a house, I live with my mum who is a council tenant. So what could a bailiff take from a property that isn't in my name?

Morally and ethically of course, it might be wrong and I probably wouldn't have considered it as an option, it was just something I discovered and to be honest I really struggled through the 5 years because I just couldn't afford the amount they asked me to pay.

Tixy

A debt goes from your credit file after 6years but it doesn't mean you don't still owe the money.
A debt is not wiped after 6years if a CCJ is obtained. Once a creditor has a CCJ the debt will always exist.

Bailiffs are not always able to take anything from a person or gain access to a house but its still a pretty stressful thing to have happen to you (and your mother) and if a creditor does try and fail to enforce the judgment by bailiffs then they will simply move on to another method on enforcement.

Paul150

But a CCJ is taken off credit file after 6 years anyway.

Tixy

Yes it does, though remember they might not have even obtained CCJs from your file until say 5.5years after you stopped paying (so could be up to 11.5years with a badly damaged credit report).

You are focusing on the credit file alone. Had they got a CCJ you would have had to pay back the debt somehow or other (plus court costs etc) and on your IVA you paid back the debt (or a proportion of it).

It doesn't mean that an IVA is a rip-off. It might not have been the best option for you as an individual with no assets to protect (maybe a DMP or bankruptcy might have been better for example - obviously we don't know your circumstances originally or where you went for advice to decide to take out an IVA).

FoggyBrain_2

The CCJ might fall off the credit record -- but the debt will still exist until it becomes statute barred, and the creditor will try to collect, or sell the debt on to less scrupulous collectors.

At the end of the day, if you simply refuse to pay back what you have spent the creditors can always take you down the criminal route ( fraud, theft).