Change Of IVA Provider

pinkyp_4

Hi,

I entered into an IVA in august 06 with Debtmatters and everything has gone fine. However i have now recieved a letter saying they are no longer handling my IVA and it has been transferred to a different company, Grant Thornton. Has anyone heard of these people ? They have rung me a few times but wont explain what is happening unless i answer their security questions, which i refuse to do unless i know whats going on. The paperwork they have sent me also mentions a change in handling fee of £100, but no mention of who pays it.

Can anyone help ? Do i have to accept this change ?

Thanks

fermi

Hi.

The transfer of your IVA to Grant Thornton is almost certainly legitimate.

I have certainly heard of them, and they are a large and normally quite good (as these things go) IVA provider.

See: Debtmatters exits IVA market

Debtmatters exits IVA market - 13/02/2008

Troubled individual arrangement (IVA) provider Debtmatters is to sell off its IVA business and rebrand as a loans company.

Debtmatters has struggled to make a profit in the increasingly squeezed IVA market and commentators say it did not have the resources to manage the portfolio. It is selling the IVA book for £6.4m to a consortium comprising Grant Thornton and Totemic.

This includes around 8,000 IVAs to be split between the two buyers so they have equal portfolios.

The residual Debtmatters business will be sold to Creditflex Group for £800,000 and its will change its name to Loanmakers Group. The profitable loan broking part of the business was acquired in June 2006 and has recently secured £3.5m of banking facilities.

The cash raised from the disposals will be used to significantly reduce the company’s borrowings.

Ges Ratcliffe, Debtmatters chief executive, said: "It was becoming increasingly difficult to operate a successful direct marketing IVA business with acceptable profit margins in the face of increasing costs of case acquisition and reduced fee levels in tandem with ongoing sector uncertainty.

"As a result of a detailed review, the Board has concluded that the best long term strategy would be to exit the IVA sector completely and focus on Loanmakers."

Mark Allen, partner at Grant Thornton, told Credit Today the deal is a "rescue on behalf of creditors to maximise their returns". Many of the large lenders are clients of Grant Thornton, and it is thought there would have been high breakage rates in the portfolio unless the IVAs were taken on by another firm.

The deal is subject to shareholder agreement and the court transferring the cases to the IPs at Grant Thornton and Totemic.