Reviva UK

[Janey]

Just had a letter and a personal business card from Tim Stott of Reviva UK,asking if I was struggling with my IVA, why do these people waste their time. I for one didn't enter into an IVA lightly, wish I didn't have to but that's another story. Have copied the letter before throwing the paper copy in the shredder!

<div align="right"><div align="right">Tim Stott
Reviva UK
Suite 24
Clifford House,
7-9 Clifford Street
York
YO1 9RA</div id="right"></div id="right">


Dear J….

ARE YOU STRUGGLING WITH YOUR IVA?

If you are either struggling with your IVA commitment or feel you may have made the wrong decision at the time, we at Reviva UK may well be able to help you. We can asses your current situation very quickly over the phone and follow up with a FREE, NO OBLIGATION PERSONAL VISIT.

Reviva UK can help if your circumstances match any of the following:

- You just can’t meet your IVA payments because of a change in circumstance
- Your family and friends are helping you meet the IVA payments
- You are working overtime or have two jobs to meet the IVA payments
- You are a home owner – we may be able to arrange an early exit from your IVA
- You are living in rented accommodation with little or no assets
- You are receiving a pension, benefits or a grant
- Your IVA Agreement commits you to giving up equity in your home.

An IVA seems at the time to be the most attractive solution to your debt problems. They are heavily advertised on the radio, television, and press – ‘simply pay what you can afford each month and your debt will be written off in 60 payments’.

Suddenly, you stop worrying about the postman calling, and the phone calls stop and some order comes back into your life.

However, 5 years is a long time to plan ahead and suddenly your life is on hold. Your circumstances could have changed considerably making the IVA a serious burden. Changes in employment, available overtime, partner contributions and increased rent or mortgage payments may mean that you have serious budgeting difficulties every month to meet the IVA contribution.

Further, you may have even had an annual review by your IVA company, increasing your payments. In fact, many individuals decide against working overtime because so much of the net payments is taken away from them.

So J…, where do you turn for help and advice?
You may be meeting your IVA commitments, are happy with the arrangement and confident in seeing it out to the end of the agreement, although please don’t forget about the re-mortgage clause for year 4 if you are a house owner. You may therefore not need our help today, but you might want to keep my enclosed business card safely ‘just in case’ something changes down the line.

If however you can relate to any of the circumstances described in this letter, then it has to worth getting some advice about your situation and possible options. So you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by calling me on 07887 948920 for a free of charge, no obligation review of your current situation!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Tim Stott
Reviva UK
07887 948920


Its says on the letter that the company is licensed under the 1974 Credit Act - Consumer Credit Licence 608801 at Suite 25 87 Bridge Street Taunton, TA1 1TG.

[CoverItAll]

They have a website www.reviva.co.uk

[MelanieGiles]

What they don't say is what solution they are offering to people struggling within their IVAs?

[Cybus]

I just put Reviva in to a search engine and it came up with recycled compost. How very apt.

It sounds though that Reviva are another of those outfits that are abusing the EIIR. They can't personalise a letter to you as they know nothing about you or your circumstances, other than your name and address and as Melanie mentioned above, they have not suggested what your alternatives are. Having just visited their website, they list the various alternatives that are available, but only offer the advantages and disadvantages of bankruptcy and judging from the slant they put on it, bankruptcy appears to be the preferred way to deal with the debts.

It's all very well offering a free consultation ... but it's over a mobile line, so it's not necessarily going to be free or cheap!

[Janey]

The website on the business card is - www.revivauk.com

[Reviva UK]

Hi Janey

Over the past several months we have really noticed an increase in enquiries coming from people in IVA's and who are struggling, therefore we thought we would investigate further this area of concern. The problems we have seen are typically around:-

1. affordability - some income and expenses seem very harsh and nothing like what one would expect. Thus challenging the viability of the IVA over 5 years.
2. the misunderstanding of the year 4 "equity in property" clause".
3. the way in wich overtime is handled during the IVA and what happens at the review time.

We typically receive an 8% telephone response rate for the few letters we have sent out. Each person that calls is called back to reduce their telephone cost and an initial 30 - 60 minute conversation is offered - free and on our telephone bill.

Should the respondant wish to see us personally then we will arrange a suitable time ( day or evening ) and spend up to 2 hours with them. This is free and without commitment all we ask for is a cup of tea / coffee. ( we also prefer not to be savaged by pets)

Quite often we can act as a liaison between the IP and the person in the IVA and help with a modification. This may be a small extension of 6 to 12 months, a modified divident or perhaps an early settlement from a remortgage or introduced family money. We make no charge for this - we will however at some time in the future be recommended by them to a friend in trouble.

Only in the most complicated cases would we make any charge and this would be paid by a family member, as clearly someone in an IVA hasn't go disposable income.

We have noticed that the IVA's that struggle seem to be the one's with contributions under £300 per month, and most of the people we speak to have already missed 1 or 2 contributions which clearly puts the IVA at risk of failing.

Reviva UK are a whole of market solution provider and we would recommend the right solution for the right situation. We don't provide IVA's instead we pass these on to a major ( NON FACTORY ) IVA company and DO NOT RECEIVE a fee for this.

If the right solution is debt management, again we pass this on to a specialist who has all the systems in place ( and volume ) to handle the case. Again we do not receive a fee for passing this accross.

We keep in touch with these clients and actually - like the best IP's - become friends.

Bankruptcy is a fairly drastic option and people really do need to understand ALL the consequenses of this decision. However in some cases this is the right choice for people and we will again give this advice - along with consequences - completely free ( unless you count the cup of tea as payment ).

Some of our clients nead reassurance that this is the right thing to do, others need copies of paperwork ( the links to the sites are on the www.revivauk.com webpage so people can find them easily). Others need some hand holding and in these cases we can prepare all the court paperwork, prepare a file for the OR office, attend court and official receivers meeting ( or phone call), set up new bank account, help with the OR review in 6 months time, help with the landlord if it becomes a problem. So really we offer a bespoke service

If we have offended you by the letter I apologise, but I hope it did not come accross as aggressive or salesy as this is not what we aim for. Some of the Reviva UK team have had their own experiences of debt ( like Andy Davie) and are very sensitive to peoples positions having been there.

I hope this helps you undrestand where we are coming from and perhaps puts your mind at rest.

kind regards

[MelanieGiles]

So what solution would you actually offer to someone who is in this situation, apart from giving moral support and acting as a liaison between client and IP - for which you do not charge?

And if the solution is bankruptcy, what do you actually do for the client? And is there any charge for this service?

[Reviva UK]

Hi Melanie

I realise we are a bit strange as we are a "full service" debt solution company without a preference to solutiononly preference to helping people make a fresh start in life.

Solutions that Reviva UK would offer to somebody in an IVA are :-

1. Simple assistance with liaising with the IP ( sometimes people are frightened by the process ) and helping with a realistic income & expenditure and a suggested modification. The IP can then get to work with the creditors and hopefully arrange a workable modification - including an extended IVA as per previous post. probably no charge as the burden of work should remain with the IP as they are already being paid to supervise the case.

2. Possibility of "buying out" of the IVA so need to work with IP and client & specialist mortgage broker ( especilly in this market ) to see if a decision in principle would release sufficient money to make a sensible offer to creitors / IP. We would prepare all the groundwork/ offers etc and collate a modification offer for the IP to consider. To date we have not had one of these rejected because of the realistic approach we take. We would make a modest charge for this and our fees are fixed and transparent.

3. Should a client pursue the bankruptcy route we have a number of options available from simply pointing the way & emailing the relevant links / forms so that the client can do it themselves. More usually we are asked to provide a handholding service which is what we call an assisted bankruptcy.

Reviva UK can do any of the following and it is on a case by case basis:-
a. prepare the statement of affairs ( typed in triplicate)
b. prepare a file for the OR collating the clients full picture and to include asset valuations ( house / car etc )copies of all creditors information / accounts / bank statements / court action etc
c. set up new bank account just after they have gone bankrupt
d. book and attend court
e. attend OR telephone inteview and face to face interview

In short we sort out ll of the messy stuff prior to bankruptcy so that the client has a smooth a ride as possible.We will then provide help & support throughout the bankruptcy. We are currently working with 2 clients to help them with their new business ventures.

I probably didn't make it clear that we don't throw bankruptcy at every case but we do carefully assess each situation and apply each solution to debt ( including manually negotiating with creditors for reduced settlements).

A recent client was recommended to Bankruptcy from 2other organisations and when we looked at the case we discussed the "1 payment IVA" with funds from a 3rd party and we then went along with the client to present the case to the family. The family found he money and the client is now debt free without the need for bankruptcy. Everyone wins.

Hope this helps

kind regards

Paul

[Adam Davies]

Hi
We have had many postings from people that have received unsolicited mailings.Whilst I do not agree with the Insolvency Regster being open to all I think that it is interesting that a company using such mail shots has started to post on here.
As this is an open and unbiased forum I welcome their input.
Should make for good debating
Regards

[donnamitchell]

does this mean my name and address are on a register somewhere?

if so can someone give me the address

thanks in advance

[Adam Davies]

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/eiir/

[jpj]

Sounds to me like Reviva just act as a P.A to people who cant afford one. Any good IP or OR should be doing the legwork they are doing anyway??

And as for going round to a familys house to convince the family to hand over cash to bail the other family member out... "everybody wins!!!" yes except the family members who handed over all the cash!!

[donnamitchell]

ive had them from other people saying that i have been given the wrong advice, ive just binned them.. didnt realise that there was a register, im on it and my hubby...

cant believe this is allowed.

[Reviva UK]

Good to get the debate going a little.

Initially I was surprised by some negativity then I realised that nobody on the forum knows us yet so one should always be a little cautious. proof of the pudding etc...

Some thoughts ;-

The banking and finance industry has for years advertised and specifically targeted finance offers to those that they can identify as being in a certain condition. i.e. people with CCJ's or adverse credit are targeted by blue chip companies who buy that data and bombard people with "stuff". I have to date never seen anyone offering to give free impartial advice to these people - perhaps the CAB should be targeting these people before things get worse?

As far as I am aware there are 17 companies that write to people in IVA's to offer their wares. Some are quite aggressive and have been reported to the OFT for breaking advertising rules (i.e. IVA COUNCIL). Most only offer 1 solution and cannot or are unable to offer alternatives to their primary product. Companies that offer only remortgages or only bankruptcies.

These companies are usually based on call centers and work on scripts to quickly identify if the person meets their criteria, so there is little chance that a full picture of their personal position or fears can be understood.

Prior to making the decicion to write to some people in IVA's we proviously received about half of our enquiries via referrals from solicitors, accountants, bookeepers , and some local bank managers. The other half of our enquiries come from clients referring friends / family and work colleagues. So hopefully we are doing something well.

In late 2007 we started to notice a huge increase in the number of people contacting us - who were already in IVA's - and didn't know what to do about their position.

We initially sent out 500 letters and were shocked when we got 43 phone calls requesting help and advice. We spoke to everyone and visited 34 people of which we were able to recommend that 21 stay in the IVA ( most with a small tweak by the IP ) while 13 were clearly in the wrong debt solution and are exploring bankruptcy. We found that in every case where bankruptcy was the obvious option an IVA had almost certainly been sold to them. The worst situations we found included 2 people who had to give up "100% of the equity" (not releasable but total equity) in the property in year 4. This meant that they had to sell the house and hand over 1005 of the asset. Seems little diference to bankruptcy except it is a lot longer. Other people were having the IVA paid by parents because they couldn't afford it.

It is probably more difficult for the super large company to be as personal as a smaller with a more bespoke service. I quite agree that part of what Reviva UK do should be done by the IP's supervising the case, however it is not always the case.

Again our experience is that the larger factory IVA providers seem to stick to an income and expenditure that is barely manageable and doesn't truly reflect the cost of living in the UK. I believe that there was a recent post that backs up our experience in that the smaller the IVA contribution (sub £300 pm) the greater the risk is of its failure. It is also not uncommon for us to see people taking home £900 pm and paying an IVA contribution of £485 ( single person living alone ).

I was at the recent IVA.co.uk debate in London about the mis-selling of debt solutions and I am very sensitive about this. One of the contributors was interested to learn how many IVA's fail as there no publically available figures.

It also seems that the people that are more likely to struggle with an IVA have done significanlty less research into to the IVA company, all debt solutions and consequenses and alternatives.

About 28% of the people we see under normal conditions are recommended and suitable for an IVA and as 5 years is a very long time I believe that there should be no rush to starting one until everyone is convinced that it is the right solution. Including the client.

Also it is worth mentioning that savvy IP's - like Melanie - take the time to get to know someone over a period of time and when the IVA is proposed she is confident that she has all the info and it is unlikely to fail.

I suspect that many of the largest IVA providers are going after the upfront nominees fee of between £1500 and £X and will worry about the superviors fees later - especially if the company is sold.

Just noticed the time

this forum is addictive

Have a great weekend everyone

[Janey]

Mr Johns, when I first read your letter I thought it to be negative towards IVA's and that you could offer a quick fix way of getting out of it. I am possibly skeptical of any financial companies due the mess that I got myself into. For me my IVA has thrown a lifeline and for the first time in years it has made me open my eyes and manage on a budget instead of living beyond my means. I am sure for some people companies like yourselves work and its important that there are alternatives.

Suppose its something we do learn from open discussions on sites like this. There are two sides to every story, like my post and your letter, the more we understand the more informed choice we can make.