Rogue Companies - What to watch out for

[Declan at DebtFreeDirect]

Hi All

I think it is worth noting that there has been an growth once again in the number of letters and phone calls people in IVAs are receiving from companies offering alternative solutions to your current IVA and that you were mis-sold your IVA. This is very worrying and must be tackled immediately.

More often than not, the alternative solution they are trying to sell you is bankruptcy or a solution which may not benefit you as much as them.

My advice is to ignore these communications and report it to your IP as soon as possible who will investigate it on your behalf.

How do they get my details?
In most instances they use the IVA register which is maintained by the Government’s Insolvency Service. However we have alerted the Insolvency Service to what we consider to be harassment of people in IVAs. They are looking into this but in the meantime you may continue to receive letters.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has been notified about the activities of this company and are currently investigating them. If you would like to complain directly to the OFT , you can do so by visiting their website on www.oft.gov.uk

How can I avoid receiving this unsolicited mail?
You can register with the Mail Preference Service and / or the Telephone Preference Service. Registration only takes a few minutes. Should you continue to receive communications from these companies, it will only demonstrate just how disreputable they are.

I’m sure Melanie, Michael and the other guys on this forum will have come across this quite a bit and will no doubt be as annoyed as we are that this is happening. It can be quite a stressful time being in an IVA without the hassle of receiving these types of letters / phone calls.
We will be shortly issuing an email to our clients about this but I would urge you all to be wary of such communications and if you know someone in an IVA please make them aware as well.

[Cath]

Excellent advice and I hope these predators are dealt with accordingly.

Slightly similar are the companies wh say they can claim back for mis-sold loan insurance...they charge a small initial fee and when you get the small print they want 25% plus VAT and if your debt gets reduced as a result, they take that as well! Predators and unscrupulous bandits IMO.

[PELDER]

Yes, I am receiving such letters every month and not always by the same company - they all paint a pretty picture of life outside of an IVA but rather than send them on to my IP I just shred them - better the devil you know!

[Shining]

Great advice and I do forward them to my IP but after I've written to them advising them never to write to me again as I'm with MPS already and they have no right to send me unsolicited mail, I always demand a reply, don't always receive one but have done so from a couple with their apologies.

[Michael Peoples]

Declan is right in that we are all fed up with the sort of rubbish sent to our clients. We have had to send letters to all of our clients enclosing copy correspondence from the insolvency service, advising them about these firms. It frightens people and is then both timeconsuming and costly to address the concerns caused by these letters.

Hopefully more people in IVAs can read forums such as these and get some proper advice.

[Max]

Since my husband's IVA commenced he has had eleven letters (so far) from companies who tell him that he has been mis-sold an IVA - even mislead into having one! Those who sent an sae received his standard reply - "I am in the wc your letter is before me it will soon be behind me". Those who not send an sae he forwards to our Trading Standards people. Most emanate from the south coast but two came fro Newcastle. J

[size5]

I would urge ALL posters who receive this unsolicited rubbish to forward it all to David Mond, Chairman of the Debt Resoluton Forum and CEO of Cleardebt. David took on, and soundly beat, the IVA Council the forerunner to all of these ambulance chasers through the High Court. There are now a number of these organisations, mostly it seems in Bournemouth, home of the IVA Council, but a few elsewhere. As soon as one is defeated 2 more spring up it seems, but that is no reason not to try and stop their unscrupulous activities.

Regards.

[kallis3]

Pity they can't be made illegal.

[quark2008]

Yeah i'm getting pretty p****d off with all this harassment from these sharks, they have my mobile, home and address and keep bugging me no end, it all adds up, the more i am stressed, the easier it will be to validate my reasons to the judge at any BR hearing !!! it's so annoying.

[angelrainbow]

I get quite a lot....I give them to my toddlers to scrawl all over!![:D][:D][:D]

[kallis3]

I get no calls, and I think we've only had about 4 letters since the IVA started.

Ours go in the recycling.

[Shining]

I've had no calls either and 3 letters in total I think.

[MelanieGiles]

Thankfully not many of my clients report receiving such letters, either that or they just throw them in the bin without telling me, but so long as you are all happy in your IVAs that is the main thing! And do keep sending the letters to David.

[size5]

This issue is starting to rear its very ugly head more and more on this site. Accordingly, can I request that all posters who receive communication from the IVA Watchdog e mail me with a copy if they can, or you can call me and fax these letters over and I will pass everything on to David, who is very keen to see them.

My details are on the left in the experts section.

Regards.

[fingerscrossed]

Money, Debt and credit who are my IP's wrote to me the other day saying the same sort of thing.

I have had numerous letters from these type of companies since i started my IVA in June.

I found the first one upsetting as it wasnt a descision I made easily to go into IVA and to have a nobody say that it was illegal and that it probably isnt the best thing for me to do bothered me.

I know just bin them!!