Iva

MINANTRA

Hi all,
My girlfriend has an IVA with a company called Synergi who were recommended to her by the debt councillors but after the first year of paying them £5,000 she has found out that they have not paid anything to her creditors!

She has been approached by a company called https://www.bankruptcy.co.uk, who have told her to cancel her direct debit payments to Synergi and that they will now deal with her case if she pays them £1,500 admin fee.

They also told her that Synergi and several other companies are being investigated and that https://www.bankruptcy.co.uk is a reputable company and can help her.

It all sounds very dodgy to me, can anyone advise please?

Rgds.

RAS

Hi

I think you GF needs some every careful advice before she does anything. See here.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

it is not unusual for IVA providers to take the whole of the first year's payments to fund the fees. This is why so many creditors stopped accepting them for a while.

I am however concerned that your GF may have taken advice from a commercial debt counselling company that has direct financial links with IVA providers and fee paying DMP providers.

She certainly should not cancel her DD without making proper arrangements as the outcome for a failed IVA is bankruptcy.

She can contact the OFT and Financial Ombudsman for advice as to whether Synergi are being investigated. She should not rely on the comments of a competitor. She might also want to report this BK company for their behaviour.

RAS

Insolvency Service- 0845 602 9848

Office of Fair Trading, Contact page: http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_res...ase/legal/cca/

Trading Standards, Central office homepage: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/
-Please note, you can search by inserting the postcode in the top right hand corner, remember to use the postcode of the DCA rather than your own-

Contact the branch nearset their office.

the Financial Ombudsman Service, Contacts page: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org/contact/index.html

Sagaris

In the meantime she should contact CCCS, Payplan or one of the other debt charities who will give her unbiased FREE advice and help.

penniless96

We began a process with synergi in late 2006 and nearly completed, luckily i decided not to do it and go it alone, they were just waiting for 1 document from me when i had a telephone conversation with them regarding the £400 a month we were paying and were it was going ( i was still been hassled by creditors) when the man on the phone accidentally told me no payments were going to creditors and my payments would go up each month etc etc. Basically they are taking money from you and keeping it but DO NOT stop the dd as then you default your IVA and could end up going bankrupt. You must seek professional advice asap!!!