Hi We have just made the final payment in our 5 year long IVA with Freeman Jones.
However in March they contacted us and said that after reviewing our account we owed a further �4500 as my husband had over earnt over the past 5 years.
There are a few things that have not been taken into account though. within 6 months of starting the IVA I was taken ill and lost my job so we lost my income of approx. �400 a month.
Our income and expenditure obviously altered over the last 5 years but this was never taken into account.
There is no equity in our home or ppi that needs chasing so as far as we are aware iva was ready to finish.
we have had times when money was tight and phoned iva freeman jones to be told they couldn't help us but yet now we owe loads to them.
shouldn't this of been picked up before now? I have put a complaint into FJ and had no response so now contacted Ombudsman.
What I need advice on now is do we continue paying our monthly payments to cover the shortfall or stop them and hold the money while ombudsman is investigating?
Cant believe it after 5 long years making every payment even increased payments 2 years ago because hire purchase on car finished were left with this. In debt to a company that was supposed to be helping us get out of debt. How can this be right???? Please help
Hi. Regardless of the income losses over the years, did your husband earn extra money ( ay rises or overtime etc) which wasn't paid over ? If not then this is the first question: Where have FJ come up with this figure ? If yes, then it does have to be paid over.
My advice, as irksome as it might feel, would be to either continue making regular payments or agree a break with FJ pending the outcome of current investigations. To simply withold payment will be grounds to fail the IVA and thus waste the last 5 years hard work.
My opinions are merely that .. opinions based on experience. Always seek professional advice.
IVA Completed 23rd July 2013 .... C.C. 10th January 2014
As it was a joint Iva don't you think the loss of my earnings should counteract my husbands increase (overtime)?. How do they expect you to survive? Maybe discussing it with FJ is the best option as you said but they have been far from helpful so far[:(] Thanks for your reply
Yes, there should have been some give and take, but this would have to be agreed with FJ at the time, the payment of extra income is a contractual agreement which you did sign up to.
FJ have a forum representative who regularly intercedes where there is a dispute and, from previous posts, has been very helpful to FJ clients, Spencer Last. Hopefully he will see this and respond.
My opinions are merely that .. opinions based on experience. Always seek professional advice.
IVA Completed 23rd July 2013 .... C.C. 10th January 2014
My name is Spencer I am part of the team at Freeman Jones.
Thank you for your post. We were able to identify you from the details you provided and one of the FJ relationship management team has already been in contact with you today to discuss your concerns.
As you know, you have already had a formal response to your complaint. It appears that you have missed various items of correspondence from us because of an issue with the postal service in your area.
We are as keen as you to conclude your IVA successfully so that you can move on debt free. But to progress we do need further evidence of you and your husband’s income and expenditure. This will enable us to do a full calculation of what should have been paid into your IVA over its term.
Once we have received the documents from you we will contact you directly to discuss the next steps to bring your agreement to a successful conclusion.
I'm delighted to confirm that you have now completed your IVA and that your final report and Completion Certificate will be been sent out in the post shortly. I'll make sure that a copy is also emailed to you, as I know your post service can be hit and miss.
If there is anything more we can do for you in the meantime please feel free to get in touch.
Congratulations and on behalf of the team here we hope you enjoy your debt free future.
Thank you - it helps us all believe (irrespective of who we are with) that there is an end to this process.
IVA started March 2011, Completed March 2016 and certificate issued 11 days after final payment. It was not always easy but then some of the best decisions aren't.
[:)]Pleased to say that Freeman Jones did sort out our problem after with all fairness this post on this forum amazingly got results rapidly.
The outcome was that Freeman Jones had miscalculated money owing and it went from £4500 to £420 massive difference.
The Gentleman we spoke to mr goodall in Freeman Jones was fab can not speak high enough about him. he made our lives a lot easier.
In under 2 weeks we received our certificate.
Yayyy debt free at last after 5 long years.
Thank you to the Freeman Jones representatives who obviously saw this post originally I owe you a lot.
Good luck all there is light at the end of the tunnel. Stand by what you believe and question things you don't agree with it saved us £4000.
[:)][:D][:)][:D]
