There you go ... I was on one last night and a bit disappointed to have been banned overnight without explanation, but never mind. Perhaps I hit a raw nerve or perhaps I went about my posting in the wrong way?
I would be interested to hear what experiences those people who have contacted the IVA Council have had so far?
Have you received any further correspondence from them at all, other than the initial standard letter that was sent out suggesting that because you are simply in an IVA, you have potentially been mis-sold it?
Have you received any further advice on how you can claim your money back?
Have you been advised to or have you been contacted by any organisations such as UK Bankruptcy as a result of your enquiries?
Have you been advised to petition for your own bankruptcy?
Have you been sent a pre printed letter with a request to sign it and forward it on to your IP ... something along the lines of -
Date xx/xx/xxxx
Dear Sir / Madam,
You will note that payments to my Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) have not been made recently.
Under the conditions of the initial proposal, the IVA is now in default. In view of this and after much consideration, I have decided that bankruptcy is a more appropriate form of insolvency for my circumstances.
I fully understand the implications of my actions and respectfully request that you forward to me, by return, a letter or certificate of default, for me to present to the District Judge with my debtor petition.
I thank you in anticipation of your prompt attention to the matter.
Yours sincerely
Debtor Name
Debtor Address
I am still awaiting an answer to my question why the IVA Council support the rationale that if you have no assets and are in debt, you should go bankrupt. They don't seem to pay any attention to this site anymore. Why is that? The only people I can see that benefitting as far as The IVA Council is concerned is themselves from their referrals to the aforementioned UK Bankruptcy. Or is it coincidental that this site and that of UK Bankruptcy both are, or should I say were both registered to the same individual?
Could you perhaps explain why you consider people are better off going bankrupt as opposed to continuing their IVA?
For instance you have written to a debtor who is two years in to their IVA and suggested that they stop paying contributions and then contact yourselves with a view to establishing if they have been mis-sold their IVA. Sensibly that debtor did not do as you asked and did not keep it quiet from his IP. He contacted his IP. His main concern was not that he might have potentially been mis-sold an IVA, it was the fact that you had written to him suggesting that, without having any knowledge of his IVA other than that publicly available.
He had never defaulted on his payments during that first two years and was satisfied with the conduct of his IVA to date. He lives in rented accomodation. He knew of the alternatives available and HE chose an IVA because HE wanted to pay at least something back to his creditors.
What you are suggesting these people do is default on their arrangements and go bankrupt.
Could I ask who benefits from that? IVA Council by referring the debtor to UK Bankruptcy? What referrral fee do you get?
UK Bankruptcy do not have a licensing body to report to. I could do what they do, any individual could do what they do. I don't know what these suggested pitfalls to petitioning for your own bankruptcy are. Perhaps you could explain. If I wanted to petition for my own bankruptcy, I would ring my local county court and ask to make an appointment to see the Bankruptcy Clerk with a view to petitioning for my own bankruptcy. That would cost me £345 or thereabouts. How does that compare to what you are offering?
Anyway, returning to the example above.
2 years in to an IVA. He heeds your advice and petitions for his own bankruptcy. A Bankruptcy Order is made. The Trustee is going to contact his Supervisor and ask for some background on his IVA (I explain this for the benfit of others as you no doubt are already aware of the process). The Supervisor is going to advise the Official Reciver that actually up until a point, this particualr debtor had complied with the terms of his arrangement. He was making contributions of £X per month, never missed a one. The Trustee is going to immediately apply for income payments. Those income payments are going to have to be made for 36 months.
So this debtor is still faced with a further three years in contributions, albeit to a Trustee in Bankruptcy. His Credit record is marked for a further six years from the date of the Bankruptcy order. He has had to pay someone for the privilege of filling forms out. Financially, he's worse off, yes?
So I have to ask the IVA Council, In what way is this debtor actually better off?
You impose your view on debtors in an IVA that because they are in it, they have been mis sold it. You cannot provide any evidence to substantiate your claim until the debtor provides you with information. The debtor is the one doing all the running around at no benfit to them, whatsoever. I would go as far as suggesting that you are the ones in fact mis advising people. You could of course explain what goes on at the IVA Council and prove me wrong.
You lead people to believe that the Supervisor of a Voluntary arrangement takes a lot in fees. It's nothing to what a Trustee in Bankruptcy receives. He gets an initial administration fee. He gets a fee on every realisation he makes. He gets a fee for every distribution he makes. But you don't care about that as you've 'earned' your fee by 'assisting' the debtor to fill out a couple of simple forms. That's where an IP regulated by a professional body and the unregulated IVA Council differ. The IP's act in the interests of both their client and the creditors. Yes there is something in it for them, but it is earned.
Whose interests do you act in?
I honestly believe that you are of the opinion that a person in financial difficulty has no, or should not feel any obligation to repay their creditors.
In an IVA, the creditors are the ones who choose whether or not to accept a reduced sum of money over a period of years in setllement of their debts.
In bankruptcy they are not given that choice and you suggest that that is alright?
I would be grateful to receive comments from anyone who has contacted IVA Council and from the IVA Council themselves, if they can be bothered.
Tell it like it is.
