GRANT THORNTON

[David Mond]

Glad hillymic that GT are dealing with this for you and sorry about your condition - at least you will be on the mend soon. x

[hillymic]

Melanie, I now know it was not their job to contact finance companies but they did not tell me to ring them & sort it or I would of most definately sorted it out before the IVA was agreed. They just told me it will be fine & will be agreed & sorted with no mention of me to ring them. My main issue was they had written it into the IVA when it wasnt even agreed & now at this present time I can either give the car back (which I can't because i obviously need it), part ex it (which I cant because being in an IVA I cant get credit for another one) or pay in instalmants for 12 months (which I cant as we are living on the bread line as it is).
I was obviously angry on Wednesday when I first wrote on the forum as everyone else had nothing but good comments for GT. I am now upset as it seems so far there is nothing they can do. My contact (who is not my IP) in customer services is trying her all & I cant thank her enough but at the end of the day if I lose my car, i lose my job which then means I will have to go bankrupt. I am sorry if i seem to be sounding a little off with people as I entered into the IVA so that my partner didnt have to go bankrupt & we've had hardly any communication up until now when it has gone wrong - that was my complaint.
Thank you both for your advice though & I will post a thread with the outcome. xx

[MelanieGiles]

I cannot see that you need to lose your car hillymic. At worst, GT will need to put forward a variation to the terms of your original agreement - allowing you to pay off the balloon payment via instalments and therefore reducing the IVA payments.

It is a shame that this was not considered prior to the IVA being set up. How did you think this would actually work out? Were you anticipating that you would be able to part-ex the car and get another on new finance terms?

[hillymic]

I cannot see that you need to lose your car hillymic. At worst, GT will need to put forward a variation to the terms of your original agreement - allowing you to pay off the balloon payment via instalments and therefore reducing the IVA payments.

It is a shame that this was not considered prior to the IVA being set up. How did you think this would actually work out? Were you anticipating that you would be able to part-ex the car and get another on new finance terms?

Thank you Melanie. GT did come back to me yesterday after their meeting with the idea of reducing the IVA payments but nothing has yet been confirmed as the IVA payements will be so low for 12 months, it maynot be agreed. I will find out more on Monday. No, i didnt think that I could part-ex the car as i wouldn't be able to get any finance. We have already tried that & even explained to the finance company that we have an amount of money accounted for car finance each month for 3 yrs. GT ensured me yesterday that they will do everything they can so that I dont lose my car because of this. The only problem we see at the moment is the IVA payments maybe too small for the next 12 months while I pay the car off so it may not get agreed. I know that GT are trying everything they can so that I can keep my car so hopefully on Monday they will have some good news for me. Like I said i will post the outcome on here. xx

[MelanieGiles]

I have an IVA where my client is not paying anything for 12 months due to redundancy - so in the world of IVAs anything is possible, and GT have a good relationship with all creditors so I am sure this will be sorted out for you soon.

I was actually at the Grant Thornton offices in Belfast yesterday, and your case was mentioned to me by a very senior manager, so I know personally that it is being dealt with as best they can.

[hillymic]

Just an update.
GT have managed to lower my IVA payments for a year so then I can pay my car off. The IVA payments will then be increased after the year.
I would like to say Karol in customer services deserves a great big thank you as she was very sympathetic to my issues & she has worked so hard & pushed to get this through for me. Obviously, in the beginning there were some issues that haven't been addressed but at least I can say if there is a problem GT will definately try their best to get them sorted, so I thank them.

[MelanieGiles]

Well done to your IP for sorting this out. I gather that Karol is a bit of a star in the GT Customer Service team - so well done Karol if you are looking in!!

[kallis3]

Good news, and well done to Grant Thornton.

[Confused99]

Just an update from the previous message:

I did contact GT - their response of 'all IVA are individual, organise a creditors meeting etc' was not unexpected. Wish mine was with the Belfast office like my friends - she has a much better deal all round for an identical situation. I still had creditors chasing me for the first 2 years as they claimed they were not aware of my IVA, even though GT had all the account details and statements and the amounts owed were in my agreement. Looks like I'll still be paying the debt in full with the additional 50% earnings. Feel very screwed by everyone! [:(]

[MelanieGiles]

I thought that GT's Belfast office dealt with all of that firm's IVAs?

[Confused99]

No, Mine is run by an office in Bristol. In addition...my friend had her extra income amended by the Belfast office so that she keeps the first 10%...even though her IVA began prior to the introduction of TIX. Mine has not, I have the 50/50 split. Again I was told all IVA's are different. My friend seems to have much less to pay over the 5 years for a larger debt! In almost identical situations. Feel very let down.

[kallis3]

You should feel proud that you will be able to pay your debts off in full, and in a much shorter time than you ordinarily would have done, there aren't many of us who can say that.

I also think that you were just unlucky to still have creditors chasing you. It happens a lot, regardless of which firm you are with.