IVA without fees?

mrjoshua88

I’ve been reading up on different debt payment methods and found several people mentioning that IVAs are only useful for large debts as there are high fees attached to them.

I have speaking to an advisor from a company called Insolvency House Ltd who has said they would be able to set up an IVA that would last 5 years and end up writing off a lot of my debt, and that there are no fees as these are paid by the creditor. 

Does this sound plausible? Just seemed a bit too good to be true.

fatbelly

No. Completely disingenuous. Avoid this chancer like the plague.

There are two fees: a nominee fee and a supervisor fee. These are built into the IVA and taken from your monthly payment. This is why creditors get nothing for the first 1-2 years.

Stepchange are at least open about how these things work

https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/iva-costs-fees-and-charges.aspx

It sounds like you have a debt problem. Why not tell us about it?

Edit: please note the company you mention has no functioning website and all the (fake) trustpilot reviews were posted en masse 2 years ago

mrjoshua88

I did think it sounded really odd. Thanks for clarifying.

I’ve got about £20k of debt currently. About £7k is left of a guarantor loan that I’m still paying until the end of 2027, about £3k is on active credit cards which I should be able to clear within the next 6 months with the help of my partner, the remaining £10k comprises defaulted credit card debt that I stopped paying in 2021 and is split between two creditors. 

The letters are starting to mention legal proceedings, so I am sending prove it/CCA letters to see if they are enforceable, if so, I think I’ll look at setting up some kind of DMP, as other options seems too drastic for the level of debt involved.

RAS

You may be premature with the CCa letters. These are more effective if the debt has been sold on a few times.

You are not in IVA territory. A Statement of Affairs would help us help you.

mrjoshua88

The two main debts have moved around quite a bit between Moorcroft, Cabot and Link. I’m intending to send prove it letters first and then will go with CCA requests and plan accordingly based on the responses.

Im in a bit of flux at the moment with working and living arrangements, but planning ahead I think I’ll have around £300 a month to budget towards my debts once my active cards are paid. 

I’m just looking forward to finally getting out from under the shadow at some point, though it looks like I’ll be in my 40s when I do!

fatbelly

Keep posting. I would trust the regulars to give good advice

I wonder exactly who that was, who was posing as an insolvency practitioner. Do you have a phone number or other contact that you could post? Pm me if you are nervous about it

mrjoshua88

I was directed from a link on Facebook to a questionnaire and then someone called Alex Williams contacted me on Whatsapp. This is the company that he was from: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/insolvencyhouse.co.uk

I couldn’t really find out much else about the company.

RAS

Presumably you've checked the stuff on Companies House?

It's important to realise that what you are being sold is fee-free advice, to sign up for an IVA.

The ad on Trustpilot does not say that there is no fee if you sign up for an IVA. Stepchange charge circa £4k but I understand prices are generally around £6-9k.

Neither of the directors of Insolvency House are registered practitioners and they had no staff when they last filed (small firm) accounts. They will almost certainly make their money from the referers' fee when someone signs up for an IVA. 

mrjoshua88

My thoughts exactly. He was saying he could setup an IVA for £90/month for the debt and that

“ They do charge fees but they are paid by your creditors so you don't pay them. You 1 million per cent do not need to pay any fees at all with an IVA. All covered by your creditors. You just pay your monthly payment for the 5 years“.

Thought it sounded like a bit of a farce.

sourcrates

mrjoshua88 said:

My thoughts exactly. He was saying he could setup an IVA for £90/month for the debt and that

“ They do charge fees but they are paid by your creditors so you don't pay them. You 1 million per cent do not need to pay any fees at all with an IVA. All covered by your creditors. You just pay your monthly payment for the 5 years“.

Thought it sounded like a bit of a farce.

Scammers are always looking for new ways to scam you, the regulated debt solutions available in this country are laid down in law, the bill is passed by both the houses of parliament through enactment, it then becomes a statutory law, these are only changed by acts of parliament.

Regulated debt solutions are:

Bankruptcy
IVA
DRO

Each have there own qualifying criteria, and each is enacted in a certain way, fatbelly has already listed the fee`s payable in an IVA, the legislation cannot be chopped and changed on a whim, only by act of parliament.

There`s far too much of this tripe on social media these days.

RAS

mrjoshua88 said:

My thoughts exactly. He was saying he could setup an IVA for £90/month for the debt and that

“ They do charge fees but they are paid by your creditors so you don't pay them. You 1 million per cent do not need to pay any fees at all with an IVA. All covered by your creditors. You just pay your monthly payment for the 5 years“.

Thought it sounded like a bit of a farce.

Well you pay your £90 to the IP and their firm. And out of the £6.5k you pay the firm takes their fees and your creditors get nothing. So they may not agree?