McKenzie Jones Associates - Debt Management FRAUD!

keiron2023

Good Afternoon all, 

I have not not seen any other news articles or scams online regarding this. I wanted to make this post make other people aware of this company in the hope they do not become a victim like me. 

My background - I went into an IVA around 2 years ago due to bad management of money and taking a loan by the bank every time I was offered one. My credit was very good because I  always paid my debt on time. However, in the end my monthly debt repayments was all of my monthly salary. I was 2 years into my IVA but because of cost of living and energy price increasing I was no longer able manage my monthly IVA payments. I was sent a letter to my home address in November 2022 from Mckenzie Jones Associates stating " Please give us a call we feel we have information that will financially benefit you"  

At this point I was intrigued to know what this was so,  so I gave them a call. I spoken to a staff member who asked me if I was in an IVA? I did not click-on at the time but I now wonder how they got this information?. They informed me they can act on my behalf in speaking with the IVA - (Debt movement) to get a paid to date solution or half my monthly repayments. I was in financial hardship and my IVA would not offer any support so I proceeded with this company. I looked online and found no evidence it was a scam they had a professional website. 

They informed me to stop my IVA Payments straight away cancel my bank account, pay them £75 a month over 6 months for them to represent me. Over a period of 2 months I submitted expenditure & income information, Bank Statements, Wage slips, etc. They sent me letters that they was sending to Debt movement. 

The IVA, debt movement was calling me over the last 3 months to say they have received no information from Mckenzie Jones associates. So I call Mckenzie Jones and informed them the IVA haven't received any correspondence. Mckenzie Jones informed me this is what they do all the time, Asking me to forward all emails to them so they can call them directly. 

My iva is now in breach after missing 4 payments. 

I started to click-on that I had been scammed when Mckenzie Jones stopped replying to my emails and answering the phone. I did my own investigation,  checking companies house and see the managing director is registered as Kevin Dursley. I searched his name in google and found this. 

(i cannot post the news article as im a new member but all you have to do is search kevin dursley debt management) 

Kevin Dursley was previously convicted back in 2018 for the same, under a different company name. 

I confirmed this was the same man by checking social media and other news articles and confirming registered addresses. 

I have reported to action fraud and the FCA. 

I would not want anyone else to fall victim to this company they have exploited already vulnerable people in financial difficulties. 

I have seen only one other forum post mentioning this company. In terms of advice for me to be able to move forward I welcome any other people coming forward.  

Any advice in what I should do now is welcome, in terms of reporting or one action to help my financial situation would be greatly appreciated.

 

sammyjammy

I can't help on the scam but was an IVA appropriate for you if you were struggling?  Do you have assets such as property etc to protect?  How much did you owe when you started the IVA?

keiron2023

sammyjammy said:

I can't help on the scam but was an IVA appropriate for you if you were struggling?  Do you have assets such as property etc to protect?  How much did you owe when you started the IVA?

Hi Sammy 

The IVA at the time seemed the only way out of my situation, i owed approx £26,000 so far i have paid my IVA £5,000 with 25 payments remaining, however this is now in breach. 

i do not have any assets to protect.  

Grumpelstiltskin

keiron2023 said:

sammyjammy said:

I can't help on the scam but was an IVA appropriate for you if you were struggling?  Do you have assets such as property etc to protect?  How much did you owe when you started the IVA?

Hi Sammy 

The IVA at the time seemed the only way out of my situation, i owed approx £26,000 so far i have paid my IVA £5,000 with 25 payments remaining, however this is now in breach. 

i do not have any assets to protect.  

How did you arrive at the conclusion the IVA as the only way out?

I guess you never contacted any of the debt charities?

I bet you saw an advert on social media that promised you the earth?

You fell for a scam with the IVA which was the worst way to sort your debts out if you didn't have high debts and a mortgage and once you are seen as a mug you will be contacted by other scams.

Don't pay one penny to any company at all and let your IVA fail.

Keep posting on here and you will be helped sort your problem out.

sourcrates

Unfortunatly you fell victim to an ambulance chaser.

McKenzie Jones Associates are a bottom scraper firm of solicitors, they appear to be in the compensation for mis-selling business.

IVA`s are mis-sold on a massive scale, and they will have been trying to get your IVA annulled on that basis, obviously they did not tell you the full facts, and have charged you a sum of money for doing nothing basically.

This has now caused you issues with your arrangement, which looks like it now might fail.

This idiot company was never acting in your best interests, and were setting you up to fail, as for what you can do now, do not pay McKenzie Jones Associates any more money, you need to talk to your IVA company, explain what has happened, and see what can be done re- the missed payments.

If you can`t make up what is owed, then consider allowing the arrangement to fail, and then either look at a debt relief order, or a debt management plan to tackle what`s left of the debt, options that would have been more preferable the first time around.

keiron2023

Many thanks for the responses so far. 

i do believe looking back i should not of entered the IVA in the first place, i do believe the banks are very  bad in keep offering people loans on top of loans which i did but i have to take accountability for this. 

i went into the IVA after seeing a post on social media, which i have to admit at the time i was struggling the IVA seemed the best option i didn't look into other support i was just glad to get out of the situation i was in. 

sourcrates

keiron2023 said:

Many thanks for the responses so far. 

i do believe looking back i should not of entered the IVA in the first place, i do believe the banks are very  bad in keep offering people loans on top of loans which i did but i have to take accountability for this. 

i went into the IVA after seeing a post on social media, which i have to admit at the time i was struggling the IVA seemed the best option i didn't look into other support i was just glad to get out of the situation i was in. 

Don`t beat yourself up about it, its a very common story on these boards, these companies make IVA`s sound so good, but they are not for everyone, they were initially intended for people with massive debts (30k and upwards) who had an asset, such as a house to protect, so could not go bankrupt, they are really not suitable for anyone else.

Its your choice now what you do, but don`t throw away any more money on bloody solicitors, good luck to you.

RAS

Some many people get pulled in by these "get  up to 78/82/91% of your debts written off" adverts, when they are stressed out by debt. And so many have debts or incomes so low that other options are more appropriate. Or circumstances which make an IVA inappropriate. I wonder what small percentage of IVAs are correctly chosen?

Please go and speak to CAB, national debtline or Stepchange. You're probably be best off defaulting, then going to CAB to get a DRO once the IVA fails. But do talk through your specific situation first. 

And meantime, go through your SOA, and put the money you have been paying these companies into an emergency fund.

Grumpelstiltskin

RAS said:

Some many people get pulled in by these "get  up to 78/82/91% of your debts written off" adverts, when they are stressed out by debt. And so many have debts or incomes so low that other options are more appropriate. Or circumstances which make an IVA inappropriate. I wonder what small percentage of IVAs are correctly chosen?

Please go and speak to CAB, national debtline or Stepchange. You're probably be best off defaulting, then going to CAB to get a DRO once the IVA fails. But do talk through your specific situation first. 

And meantime, go through your SOA, and put the money you have been paying these companies into an emergency fund.

RAS Don't you think it's about time there was a law stating an IVA could only be for debts over £30.000?

RAS

Well that would be a start, but.....

There's a lot of folk with debts above £30k who earn the same or more.
 
I'm going on my experience of the crash 15 years ago, when a lot of folk got hit badly. Those with debts in the 1-2x salary range could often recover using a DMP and budgeting, although that depended a bit on how exposed they were to the previous high house prices.

At 2.5-3 times salary, some sort of insolvency was more often the solution. 

Obviously the mess wasn't helped by the fact that minimum payments in those days didn't even cover interest charges. So you could "assume" your accounts were affordable and keep up with the minimums and your debt would increase. If you were paying 1% monthly on a debt in the 25-40% annual range, the situation was dire when the bubble burst. 

Grumpelstiltskin

OK But how many  people do we see with debts under £30.000 who have been sucked in by these social media ads.?

My guess is that only 1 in 1000 of these were appropriate for an IVA.

It would slow down this huge amount of inappropriate IVAs a large amount which will fail.