Request from solicitor re: Financial Mis-selling Redress for your IVA Estate

in_orbit74

My father is coming to the end of a 5-year IVA. He made his final payment in the summer, and is now awaiting his completion certificate.

A few weeks ago he received an email from a solicitor, entitled 'Financial Mis-selling Redress for your IVA Estate'. 

They told him they had been instructed by the supervisors of his IVA to recover financial mis-selling redress for the benefit of his IVA estate and intended to initiate proceedings against Barclaycard, adding: You will be aware that financial mis-selling claims constitute assets of your IVA estate and that your IVA agreement specifies that assistance may be required from you in order to recover any such claims.

It went on to say my father is required to execute an "assignment agreement" in favour of the current trustee of the IVA estate - a necessary procedural requirement without which the claim’s chances of success could be jeopardised. Which in turn, they added, meant that he would not receive any goodwill payment from the company now managing his IVA estate.

Is this a normal/standard request at this stage in an IVA? Is he required to co-operate? Is the IVA at risk of failing if he doesn't?

I know very little about how IVAs work, so any help in deciphering all this would be much appreciated.

sourcrates

Hmmm, yes, Hi, this is becoming more common, towards the end of an IVA, the IP will go through your list of creditors and see if there is any possibility of recovering any more assets that can benefit the arrangement.

Things such as PPI pay-outs, now ended, unaffordability claims, or mis-selling claims, whatever you want to call it, or anything else they can dig up basically.

Essentially what they are asking is for him to give his permission for the solicitor acting for the IP to make a mis-selling claim on his behalf, to Barclaycard, whether this will be successful or not is anyone's guess.

They are basically asking Barclaycard to pay redress for allegedly mis-selling him a credit card, in order to up the returns for themselves, and the other creditors, so not without a touch of irony there.

I would expect the price of his cooperation will be the certificate of completion for the IVA, as was the case with PPI complaints, so my advice would be to cooperate with them, after all, its no skin off his nose, all he does is sign it, and forget it, he won`t benefit financially either way, but it will get his arrangement signed, sealed and delivered a lot quicker.

Mis-selling complaints, especially on credit cards, are very difficult to pursue, and not that many are successful, payday loan mis-selling is a different matter, but with a credit card, its more of a long term thing, with plenty of opportunity to just say no.

His IP is just clutching at straws, but then again, that is his duty to do so.