The IVA Council has settled a High Court dispute with ClearDebt by apologising and agreeing to pay £250,000, over defamatory letters it wrote.
The IVA Council had initially sent out letters urging highly-indebted people to stop paying into individual voluntary arrangements.
Debtors who responded to the letters were referred directly to UK Bankruptcy, a company that charges over £1,000 to provide bankruptcy advice and assistance to those in IVAs.
In a letter of apology written to ClearDebt as part of the settlement, the principal defendants accepted that allegations made by the IVA Council and UKB to the effect that ClearDebt was an “IVA factory” and had repeatedly mis-sold IVAs to its clients were entirely unfounded.
Further, it admitted that it was untrue to state that the IVA Council was a "non-profit making organisation" or a "consumer awareness/action group".
It also admitted that it was untrue for UKB to state that it was "not in any way associated" with the IVA Council, although they maintained that there was a 'contractual agreement' between UKB and the IVA Council.
David Mond, chief executive officer of ClearDebt, says: “ClearDebt was set up because I believed IVAs were the best and fairest deal between debtors and creditors.
"We took this action, on our own and on our industry's behalf, because we believed the IVA Council were preying on many people who were striving to deal with their debt and who had been found the most appropriate solution to their needs."
David, on behalf of all those who cannot now be conned by this outfit - A HUGE THANK YOU !
Well done David - it was deplorable the steps the IVA Council took in contacting clients, and scaring clients, no end of clients came thorugh worried about the letters they received.
I am so pleased you were successful or more importantly they lost!
a big well done from me too David it's great to know that people like yourself are working and striving to protect those of us that have found ourselves in debt for one reason or another and in turn become very vunerable as any scheme to save a few pounds then becomes very appealing, when in fact it is just another way of getting money that we haven't got out of us.
Glad to have you on my side.
Om shanti, namesté, good luck to all who are embarking on the IVA journey, it isn't always an easy one but the outcome is the best.
IVA COMPLETED August 2012, received Completion certificate 18.4.13.
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