IVA in progress, constant calls from creditors

[mrs.e]

Hi, I'm new to the boards so please bare with me.

My husband (and I) are in the process of applying for an IVA. Unfortunately, it's taking longer than anticipated as the company got most of our details wrong and mixed up (as it has been passed to 3 different case workers) and now they have to redraft our paperwork and start again. So this has been going on for about 9 weeks now.

During this time, 2 of our creditors, namely MBNA (which has been passed on to Global Vantedge) and Barclays Partner Finance, have been constantly ringing our landline from 8am right through to 9pm. I answered the first few calls, only to be told they couldn't tell me anything (as the credit is in my husbands name)and they would ring back the day after. My husband usually works Mon-Sat at the times they are calling, which I have told them this, but they still continue to call at the same times. Now I ignore the calls. The only day I don't get calls is on a Sunday, or so I thought up until today!!

The call today was from Barclays, she was very rude, ignorant, abrupt until I ended up putting the phone down on her. My husband is working today.

Now the questions I have, and I hope I find answers to are:

1. What days/times are they allowed to call you?
2. If an IVA has been applied for and creditors informed... are they still allowed to call us?

Thank you

[Skippy]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry you're having problems with your creditors phoning you. Unfortunately for most people it's part of the process when an IVA is being set up as creditors are allowed to phone you.

However, despite the fact they are allowed to phone, they are not supposed to harrass you. There was a very good post on this a while back and I'll try and find it and post the link for you.

Some people on here have changed their phone number - would this be an option for you? Another option is having caller display and ignoring the call if you don't recognise the number.

If you or your husband do speak to the creditors tell them firmly that you are proposing an IVA, who your IP is and when your creditors' meeting is. Some creditors will then not call you for a set amount of time.

[Pennyless]

Mrs E....many companies do not release their number when phoning and you can use this to your advantage. Contact BT and ask them to place "anonymous call reject" on your number. The only Company at present that can ring me without releasing their number is BT and that comes up as "Out of Area".

Even my Wife cannot ring our number from work.

Just may help a little.

Also as I have said before to others....inform them that the call will be recorded. I will eventually start getting calls and I will record them. If the call is in anyway abusive, bullying or in any way un-civil I will be sending details to my IP and the Company concerned and eventually to "Consumer Credit Organisations".

In any event there is no law to state you must accept a caller being in anyway rude or threatening and if such calls do occur I would suggest you also call your local Police as "Harrassing or malicious calling is a criminal offence". Granted its hard to prove but you dont need to accept this grief and some of these Companies need to sit up and start taking the law seriously.

[Skippy]

I found this - it's not the one I was thinking of, but hopefully there might be some useful information:

http://www.iva.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1205

[Pennyless]

Mrs E the following is also worthy of a Google:

Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act

[MelanieGiles]

I do hope that the pickle the IPs have made with your case, is not idicative of how they will look after you in the future!

[Skippy]

I'd missed that bit Mel. That's appalling customer service, and to be honest if it was me I'd be questioning whether I could work with the firm for the next 5 years.

[Shining]

I have to agree with Melanie and Skippy, make sure you're happy with the service received as bad service in the beginning may be indictive of future service. It's not too late to have a look around and find a more reliable IP to work with you? If you're happy go ahead but make sure you are 100% happy before proceeding.

As for the creditors I used to answer all calls and have a script that by the end of the first week I knew by heart, which included my IP@s name and contact details, I answered no other questions just dictated these facts to them. Some other posters ignored the calls, or changed their number etc., Hope it goes smooth for you from now with no other hiccups and you're soon in the security of the IVA and then you can tell them this when they ring you x

[marky b]

Were now in an iva but it took 12 weeks start to finish with melanies team.
If youre being let down already by your company already i would recommend using a different company as youll be using them for the next five years not just untill your iva is approved.

We changed our number and it was free with BT, nice and peaceful now.
good luck with it.

[Mrs_Moody]

Change your phone number, we put up with one single weekend of calls and I phoned Virgin and asked them to change the number, unplugged the phone, less than 48 hours later, plugged it back in knowing none of them had our new number! Now we can answer our phone knowing it will only be family or the friends we chose to give the number to! I felt really stressed the phone ringing every hour that weekend and there was no way I was going to put up with it. Since then, we've had letters but hey, yu dont have to open them do you