IVA repayment

gooddarts

I guess that is progress and encouraging. I am still sceptical and will keep communication with them to e mails if possible. I ran there note past a financial advisor friend of mine who thought it unusual particularly the bold type and the reference to not contacting DWP. We shall see

moodymonkey74

@gooddarts finally spoke to someone on the phone today and I did ask outright if this was a scam and he directed me to the letter that they sent out noting the name of the person in charge and the fact that they can be traced using the address included. I decided to go ahead and the amount of money he said I could get would be between £150 to £500.
However things started to fall apart when he said I had to send them a copy of my driver's license and a head shot of myself taken on my mobile to validate my bank account details. 
It was at this point I stopped the whole thing and said I'd like to think about it and that I'd give them a call in a week or two.

I don't understand why they would want a photo of me to validate the money transfer when a) my bank have no idea what I look like and b) I never met anyone from Aperture let alone let them have a photo of me on their files.

They seem legit but by the way they're going about this just screams scam. I doubt I'll go through with it as it's hardly a life changing amount of money.

ManyWays

My guess is that the driver's license confirms your identity, and the headshot shows that it is actually your license, as it's similar to the photo on the license.

gooddarts

Thanks Moody Monkey74, I doubt I will bother , I never had any dealings with Aperture either and all they have for me is an old e mail address and it's going to stay that way. I would anticipate calls and letters from old creditors from this exercise and for small amounts it just isn't worth opening old wounds. My iva was in 6 figures and I paid off 38k. I would have thought the PpI on the original debt would be thousands not hundreds so they can stick it. 

gooddarts

After giving this some thought, they should be able to tell you exactly the sum due to you if there is any as Ppi claims ended some years ago and these supposed refundshave been held in trust. What they are asking for in identification also seems strange. I suppose they will also want a fee to get the money to you. Think I will let this opportunity pass.

moodymonkey74

@gooddarts you raise some good points. Like you my Iva was also in six figures and although I finished paying it off 14 years ago I have still had companies contact me from time to time trying to get more money out of me. That whole period of my life when my debt was spiralling out of control was a very difficult time and it got to the point where all of my wages were being used to pay my debts leaving me with nothing. It’s something I never want to go through ever again.

After some consideration I have decided not to proceed with this claim as the whole thing involving me sending them a copy of my drivers license and a photo of myself just doesn’t sit right. They may be a legit company but I’m not willing to run the risk of my bank account being emptied and having my identity stolen.

Thanks for the advice and all the best.

gooddarts

And to you Moodymonkey74, I agree the risks outweigh the potential benefits. After spending many years getting solvent I don't want to take a backwards step. It may be for real but too many things don't make sense and it could well be not what it seems   cheers

SheWritesStuff16

I had an IVA with Aperture that completed in 2019. It was a joint IVA with my former husband. Debtmovement contacted us to say a refund was due and we were both convinced it was a scam but it wasn't . We received our payment of £170.52 each today.  I wanted to reassure anyone else who has been contacted that despite Debtmovement's communication style being a little less than ideal, it is worth going through the steps to reclaim this money.   
The steps are that you need to confirm your identity via Veriphy (this can be done over the phone while still speaking to the operator and involves taking a selfie). They also ask you to confirm your bank details for the payment to be processed.  They promised payment in 28 days. Ours arrived 30 days after the Veriphy ID check was complete.
Similarly to others in this thread, I became an internet detective in the run up to this and even checked out the individuals that contacted me. I also recorded the phone conversation with the operator on my iPhone such was my level of suspicion.   But it was all fine in the end.

dreamthief

This Debt Movement UK thing is legit.  I have to admit, I was somewhat worried about it to start but they had my old account reference from my IVA amongst other things.  I finished my IVA 10 years ago or so, so I thought it was strange too but i read the web pages supplied earlier in this post and decided to give it a go.  I've just received my refund of £1909.90 with no hassle.  If you got a letter, I'd advise you to take them up on it. Afterall, its YOUR money. 

fatbelly

You may lose the right to the refund after the end of August 2025.

It is likely that the money will then be given to a relevant charity