long ago in 2005 i needed help with my growing debt! in 2006 i contacted a debt managment company called gregory pennington, they assisted me as all this was very new, and set a payment plan up for £200 per month, after paying this amount every month till nov 2010 i realized that my debt wasn't actually coming down so i started to do some reserch and found out about iva's, i contacted gregory pennington who then decided to tell me that they indded had a sister company that delt with them called freeman jones- i asked why they had never offered me this option before as with my debt's of over £23,000 it would of took some 17 years to repay!!!!!!!!My reply 'we didnt think you'd be wanted to be classed as insolvent'. I was absolultley mortified. Anyway after a few choice words with him he put me through to freeman jones who went through everything with me, it was a sole IVA, i have no assetts work part time and have 2 kids (1 who was 18 at the time and in college so got benefits for her i.e child tax credits/c benefit).
I have been with freeman jone since dec 2010 and plodding along niceley till september 2011 when the conservatives decided to cut my daughter's E.M.A allowance, so we had to start forking out for bus passes and dinner money, even money for equptment and spends- i told freeman jones i was despperatley struggling to maintain my payments and completed income and exp and the did nothing -they told me they could try for a variation meeting but it was likley that it would be unsucsessfull and my iva would fail-- quite frankly they scared the sh1t out of me!!! And so i continued to pay my £200 monthly picking up overtime where i could. by may 2012 i was not able to get any overtime at work and the car broke down, and i found myself taking more credit out to make ends meet a payday loan here a payday loan there, 2 catalogues and a credit card, it was escalating again...... I told freeman jones that i had been forced to take out credit as my situation was unbelievable our outgoings were more than my incomings- you know what they said to me? ' actually miss bridge your last 6 wage slips show an increase in earning's you owe us a furthur £390 for the last 6 months' i put the phone down as i couldnt believe what she was saying..... in august this year child tax creds and child benefit ceased for my older daughter we also lost £48.00 a week in housing and council tax benefit, and i definatley had/have no way of paying my iva, it is now in breech as i missed more than 4 payments, although they havnt even had the decentcy to contact me to say i'm in breech, only a letter yesterday to say i'm due a review..... my mum is actually giving me the money( £700) to declare myself bankrupt on friday morning, i have made the appointment at the court, made 3 copies of all my papers and have my last 3 wage slips, plus prrof of rent.
do i need to take anything else to court with me?
I am so very scared and very nervous- what is really ironic is that if gregory pennington had offered me the iva in the first place it would have been done and dusted by now! instead they were greedy and just bled me dry for their monthly fee, and freeman jones are just as bad, i can not belive the way i have been treated by this company, do they have someone who regulates them? i have kept copies of lettres and emails i have sent to them in the past asking for help.... i know this is a long winded explanation but thankyou for taking the time to read it, all the best emma.
e bridge
