are these letters genuine?

[admin]

Has anyone recieved one of these? They state that you shouldn't pay any more payments towards your IVA, and you shouldnt consult your IP- clearly misleading! We would be really interested to hear any feedback on this.

Admin

[iva experts]

Hi Admin,

I recall this topic coming up recently so I did a search and found the below thread. It's shocking that this "IVA Council" can take advantage of people and ask them to stop payments! The worst thing is that they are getting the details straight off the insolvency register, what a mis-use of resources.


http://www.iva.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TO ... VA+Council

Best Regards,
IVA Experts
http://www.iva-experts.co.uk/

[Oliver]

Telling people not to continue making their payments sounds very concerning. Anyone who receives this correspondence should treat it with extreme caution.

Best Regards
Oliver

Thomas Charles and Co Ltd.
Experts in personal debt solutions.
Read customer feedback at: www.thomascharles.com/about_us.asp

[MelanieGiles]

I have just returned home from holidays and seen one of these letters which have been sent to another IP. I am not aware that any of my clients have received any, but would urge any IP who has been subject to such letter to take the matter up with teh DTI. The DTI's logo is being used on this letter, and I am not aware that there is any connection with the DTI and this outfit calling themselces the IVA Council - but then I could be wrong!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[catullus]

I haven't heard of this mob (yet) but there are a number of organisations preying on people in IVA's suggesting that they can get out of them early.

Most of these appear to be mortgage brokers presumably hoping to get the remortgage early, but there also appear to be organisations connected in some way to (unnamed) IP firms, who may think that they can represent a proposal on more generous terms for the debtor.

Needless to say it would be very unwise to get involved with these people without first consulting your own IP.

Welcome back Melanie!

[MelanieGiles]

Thanks Catullus. Don't you think it is about time the DTI/regulators/OFT stepped in and stopped these crazy firms from operating in the manner they do - ie purporting to represent officaldom?

Represented IVAs by other IP firms are a nonsense and will not be received well by creditor representatives.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[catullus]

I agree, but I haven't come across a represented case yet. Seems to me that the intermediaries are trying to use the IVA database as a new source of work but most of the time I think they will be wasting the cost of the stamp.

Trouble is when they do get lucky they are likely to cause a lot of damage.

[accgroup]

Hello

The Insolvency Service are aware of the IVA Council and I understand that they have taken steps to close down the website and investigate the organisation.

Jane Finch
Insolvency Practitioner

AccumaGroup - A large insolvency practitioner service based in Manchester.
www.accumagroup.com

[MelanieGiles]

Hurrah Jane! Thanks for that info, and well done to the DTI!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[mikebdomain]

Hi Melenie hope you had a good holiday.

I had a walk down the road to have a look at this companies setup (they operate just down the road from our head office) and it seems they have a single room serviced office, by the looks of the size of it they can not be many of them. I have also reported them to our local OFT.


FREE ADVICE IS THE BEST ADVICE

LEYBRIDGE LIMITED
Mortgage Broker
Specialising in adverse credit.

see feedback and testimonials at:
http://www.leybridge.com/testimonial.php
Check out my blog at:
http://mikebdomain.blogs.iva.co.uk/
Please read our Initial Disclosure Document(IDD):
http://www.leybridge.com/Leybridge-IDD.pdf

[MelanieGiles]

Very good holds thank you!

Well done Mike, I had forgotten you are also in Bournemouth. What an unprofessional bunch of individuals these chaps appear to be - and they just seem to be wasting stamps. I would hate to think that there is an actual IP behind all of this!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[i.c]

The IVA Council was formed in response to the huge increase in mis-selling by so-called IVA factories.

The IVA Council does not charge any fees as they are a non-profit making organisation and exists to monitor the selling of IVAs and ensure that those who have been mis-sold an IVA have someone to fight their corner.

The IVA Council feel that it is completely unreasonable that people who are in such vulnerable positions are taken advantage of by these IVA factories, and the IVA factories have retaliated by launching negative responses against us online.

We want to allow the victims of IVA mis-selling the chance to join with others in the same predicament and form class actions to attempt to re-claim some or all of their money.

[ray_a]

Ok

So let's say your claim is genuine, which I would agree that there is mis selling in this industry, but how can you justify your advice of not continuing payments to an IVA that has been set up.

Perhaps you would like to explain to this forum that people should stop making payments to a scheme that is approved by the County Courts.

By suggesting this you are encouraging people to break a proper legal agreement which would have serious consequences both legally and financially!

I await your response

[Skippy]

I feel that advising people to stop paying their IVA is very dangerous. This could lead to people being in breach of their IVA and while I do agree that SOME IVA's are mis-sold, just stopping paying and failing to communicate with your IP isn't going to solve the problem.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[catullus]

This is interesting!!!

What are your qualifications for being able to advise debtors as to whether they have been advised correctly, or otherwise?

How many qualified insolvency practitioners and experienced insolvency laywers have you got on your staff?

And if you are a non profit making organisation (whatever that is) how are your operations funded and by whom?

And is Accuma's reference to an Insolvency Service investigation(referred to above) correct?

Answers to these questions would greatly assist in an understanding of the credentials of your organisation.