had the most devastating phone call from my IP

[andrewl]

Hi Melanie,
I've got my IVA creditors meeting for the 22 Feb (tomorrow) and I've had the most devastating phone call from my IP ever, as they have had contact from 75% of creditors via an intermediary company already, who have demanded 100p in £ not the 51.4p as agreed, I've been told it will fail now as I can't pay the required amount - that's why I went for an IVA! After I queried this the IP said we need to pay more - which we can't afford to do, after asking how much the reply was "..they want 100p anyway..." Why they want this I have no idea as my income/expenditure is squeezed to the limit. What amazed me is the way the creditors went to the same intermediary to deal with the meeting and stuck to this company's 100p recomendation with 15 modifications. These include demanding the monthly payment for my wife's car (who is not part of the IVA), no money for birthdays, no phone and even queried my wife's 'value' and financial input as well. She only has a part-time job due to health reasons! This was not only insulting but, will put her into the same position as me; they will reposess the vehicle and take her to court for the remainder - the creditors seem to have got it in for us.

As we have no assets (we rent) and having teenage children seem to cut no ice. Why have they become so tough? The IP company have also told me they are keeping the money I've paid in to the holding account as payment for handling this 6 month disaster (yes,6 months). I really feel cheated as the monthly payment has gone from originally 33p to 44p to 51.4p and now 100p...does this happen to anyone else? I only owed £34K, before the meeting it stood at £46k with some suspicious figures I queried with the IP. I have no idea what the figure is now.

Is there any hope for me now? or do I just go bankrupt as the IP flippantly stated? I feel I have been given bad advice at the outset as they seem to be very clandestine with any questions I have put to them throughout the proposal, I wonder if they knew this would happen a lot sooner. It is interesting to note that this company actually moved offices before Christmas and didn't tell me!! I found out by chance. Not a professional organisation at all. Any theories please?
Andrew

[neverending]

Who ever are the company dealing with your IVA ??
If you say Synergi then I,ll scream !!!

What ever is going on ?? How can creditors ask you to nearly double your monthly payment and pay 100 % dividend ??
You know that they would get next to nothing if you went bankrupt !!
Are you sure that this is not an option for you ??
I,m sure Melanie will reply and advise you shortly.

[andrewl]

Yes, you'll have to scream I'm afraid it is them. They are absolutely useless.
Andrew

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Andrew

Dare I say it - I think you are being used as a pawn in a game the creditors are playing against poorly performing IP's - and I don't really believe that what you say has happened actually has! There is no way creditors would demand 100p in this manner.

Can you find out who the intermediary is firstly, so I can guage where things may gave gone wrong. If your wife was not mentioned in the income and expenditure account, then this is probably why the got a bit fed up. Your wife's income is of course her own, but your proposal should have disclosed this and shown what contribution she makes towards shared household bills.

With regard to Synergy, I suggest that you get them to send all of your papers back as soon as possible. It is possible that you can represent your proposals, but find an insolvency practitioner with a good reputation this time. Any of the experts on the forum would be more than happy to give you some advice - but will need more information about your case which Synergy probably are holding.

Don't worry about the money they are saying they will withhold at this moment - that issue can be dealt with at a later stage. You might like to know that one of our other posters - Scaredkez - has a complaint in with the Insolvency Practitioners Association for the very same reason. It would add weight to the complaint if there were to be another similar one in due course.

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

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[coco]

I just cannot believe this company is being allowed to push people even further into Debt, I have given them until the end of march to sort my variation meeting. If no joy i will be joing Kerri in the Complaints procedure.



51 payments to go
(I apologise for my keyboards poor spelling and grammar)
http://coco.blogs.iva.co.uk

[scaredkez]

hi everyone so sorry andrew the same has happened to you as me, was it stuart by any chance that spoke to you.
as melanie has already stated i have complained to the insolvency practitioners association and i am sure if you wrote to in regards to the money and time taken then something will have to be done about this company, i still have not had a copy of the chairmans report and after several letters registered it took over a month to get paperwork and they wanted me to continue paying and they would put me over to a debt management company.
becareful of what you sign from them, i got a list of the charges which is over 3.5k and they tried to say we will waiver the rest if you sign and discharge us from any further actions.
kerri


Please view my blog at: http://scaredkez.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[andrewl]

Hello again,
I should have made my wife's position clearer, her income has been included in the IVA but they are still insisting that they want the car payment money on top. When you say they might be a poor performing IP, I did look them up on the web and didn't find anything at all (good or bad)as they were passed to me through 'The Debt Councillors'. I thought they were fairly reputable until I was well and truly 'signed up'. I have now cancelled the standing order to them and will start negiotating with my creditors in the interim, to stop further action. I am also drafting a letter in between my posts to get all my paperwork back. Is it worth phoning them today and say my piece about the 100p issue or shall I let it go and just find another IP?
Andrew

[andrewl]

Hi,
Just to add to the post. I couldn't wait for a reply I just had to ring Synergi. I was very firm with Stuart (not talked to him before) and told him that I thought the 100p in £ was a wrong and I believed they hadn't done their job properly in the creditors or my interests. H esaid he'd only worked thre for 4 months and said that 100p in the £ happens rarely in fact I actually got a figure of this type and he said it was 1% chance - funny, no-one mentioned that! I continued for 5 more minutes and spoke so firmly that he almost became unintelligible (I think he just couldn't argue) and I got the name of the intermediary - it is a voting house called KPMG and I got their address, phone number and contact name. I was brilliant on the phone and I have never been this proactive for ages. I even mentioned that I am now in a worse financial position than before and he had to agree.
So much for Synergi, I just can't tell you how relieved I am to have said what I have and to tell them to pull their finger out. They have had control over our lives for too long with a huge negative result. When I put the phone down, my wife said "G*d, you were good!" Surprising what you can do in the face of doom.

Happier, but not convinced it's over by a long way yet!

[thebear29uk]

Kerri Coco and Andrew

I'm so so sorry that all three of you have been treated so appallingly by this company so here's a thought.

Together with admin could the BBC Watchdog programme be approached and, providing they can keep your identities secret, they make a report to prevent further unsuspecting people falling into the trap.

We here all know the reputation by now but most people stung by Synergi dont find this site til its too late. As Neverending says, it makes the blood boil and you want to scream when you read these stories. My interest on my debts is currently adding at approx £1000 per month. I would not want £6000 added just because the company dealing with my very serious situation didnt do so with any haste.

Last week the BBC News ran a series of features on debt so it could be put to Watchdog as a tag-on to an issue very fresh in the media spotlight.

Anyway just a suggestion.

How can a debt of £34000 increase by 33% in 6 months when you've only had creditors meeting today?

Sorry once again

Dave

[scaredkez]

andrew i dealt with stuart and found him rather rude, i said much the same as you and that the only pockets that have been lined are synergis which he laughed at and said no my dear a lot of work has gone into this, everything you have wrote is mirror imaged as to what happened to me.
bear i am more than willing to put and end to this companies antics, they are bringing so much misery to people who feel they are getting professional help, but are only making the situation worse.
my payments fluctuated from the very beginning and only wish now that i had been stronger with them when they kept rearranging my figures, they know these iva's are not going to be accepted and don;t seem to bothered as their fees are already paid.
kerri

Please view my blog at: http://scaredkez.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[andrewl]

Hi Kerri,
sorry I haven't responded properly to your post but I've been a bit absorbed lately! Yes I did let rip, Stuart didn't know what to say and agreed with some things. I have let them do just about everytning they have wanted as I felt that they must know what they're doing, but hey-ho it's obvious that its the reverse. I read your posts about your case and do feel for you, it is the most disasterous thing that is happening to people now (this side of the afterlife!) and will effect the children as well. My youngsters have said they will never take credit or get into anything like this and they seem to understand that this is bad.

I have demanded..yes, demanded, my records back from Synergi with a swift legal threat if not received by return of post after the creditors meeting tomorrow. I intend to fight on and get an IVA or at least DMP which I can afford. What pains me is that these companies like Synergi, can operate the way they do within the law and get away with fleecing the vunerable. This is a bit like going to hospital with serious wounds and the staff taking your wallet and throwing you out before treatment.
Anyway, as I am fired up now I have looked into the advice from thebear29uk and will look into contacting BBC Watchdog to hopefully put an end to this kind of debacle. The more dishonest companies that can be stopped from taking money from debtors and doing very little has to stop before more people find themselves caught in the trap. I will sit on this for a few days and chat with the experts before doing anything drastic.

Andrew

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Andrew

Well it is only with complaints from disgruntled clients like you which will get rid of these bad apples from our profession.

Do I understand that you actually spoke to KPMG directly? If so, who did you speak to and what did they say? I work with those guys all the time, and we very rarely get any modifications to the proposals we put forward. Your case remains curious, as to why they took their decision - do you have any more information about that?

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

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[andrewl]

Hi Melanie,
The chap's name is Paul Gisbourne, I rang KPMG straight after Synergi but he isn't there until 9.30 am tomorrow. I was upset that I couldn't talk to him and try to get some sense from all this, but that's life I suppose. When I get this whole mess sorted out, I intend to make it a mission of mine to clear all these useless, greedy and time wasting companies from the register. I have been instrumental in this before for a friend so I know who to contact. The media can be a great tool if used wisely! How have I have found myself in this situation you ask? I used to be a teacher, had a big illness and was forced to resign and couldn't find a decent job until last year. It's been 8 years of struggling with a family to be hit like this.

The decision why they went for 100p & 15 mods is a mystery really, although they (allegedly - Synergi say so) repeatedly mentioned my wife's meagre £300 a month wages and why she had an HP agreement on the car (which is only a Renault, not a Ferrari for goodness sake!). But they want the money for that...I am getting to dis-believe Synergi more and more by the hour after what I read on this forum. Are there so many modifications because the creditors don't trust Synergi, at our expense? As you say, they dont modify too much with your IVA proposals, why with Synergi clients?

Interesting.....

Andrew

[MelanieGiles]

Ok - I know Paul and he is a very decent chap.

What appears to have happened here, is that KPMG representing the creditors are saying that your wife cannot afford to pay for her car, and thay by subsidising the payment you are effectively denying monies which could be made available to your personal creditors.

This may be due to the way the proposal has been presented, albeit I cannot really comment on that point. As the car is subject to HP, if it were to be returned to the HP company this would merely throw up another debts, which presumably your wife would also be unable to service.

How much are those HP payments, and do you not use the car as well? Also how much are your earnings compared to your wife's, and what monthly contributions were you going to be making?

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

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[scaredkez]

i had 26 modifications
kerri

Please view my blog at: http://scaredkez.blogs.iva.co.uk/