I commenced my IVA in 2005 and completed following a year's extension in lieu of equity in 2011. From the outset I was with DFD after seeing their adverts on the TV. I must stress that my case was quite straight forward with little variation to our payments. At that time I would have recommended DFD to anyone. It was towards the end or our IVA that I discovered this forum. I am now saddened to see the number of posts on here slating DFD and of course I can fully understand why. The secured load issue seems scandalous, especially as they are trying to force people into this, who do not have it written in their original terms. I fear now that I would NOT recommend DFD, this saddens me because they got me through such a difficult time. For those just starting on their journey, choose your company wisely and take time to read up on them. It seems to me that the smaller companies are the better.
Also ignore customer reviews on web sites - they are likely to be the made up DWP version.
People in IVA's are inherently cautious about admitting they are in one and its not the type of thing that you can recommend to your mates.
It would be more useful to see how many closed each year and within 5/6 years, stats linked to how quickly completion certificates were issued etc.
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.
This has been mentioned on here in the past - problem is that unless companies post these figures you're never going to know.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
It's not something that IVA companies want because the stats could be misinterpreted and that is a valid argument.
However, knowing the final success rate based on 1) how long the average IVA ran for and 2) how long it took for the CC to be issued would be a really good indicator of how efficient the IVA company is.
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.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Life not so easy I totally agree, its easy to create a website and allow people to complete an anonymous survey that allows them to share their IVA experience stats (sounds familiar). Problem is I don't have the spare cash at the moment to setup said page and yearly running costs of the site, it's not much in the grand scheme of things.
I wonder if I setup a just giving anonymous pageI could raise enough money to create a site that has this data and is ourely sponsored by the anonymous public - those who have been in IVA's perhaps even just a £1 anonymous donation would raise the capital required for such a simple project, it would not be tied to sponsors or anything similar and be completely impartial.
Like you say its a taboo secret subject that people don't share their experience about, if they could complete stats anonymously I think the resource would be very useful like this site is. In nearly very other industry we know who is good at certain things and who is not so good, would be great to be able to have the same visibility in this industry.
Last edited by longslog101 on Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
My Blog details, the route I took before IVA, how I choose my firm, equity release advice (year 4-5), challenging the CRA's keeping IVA on credit file once gone from insolvency register
IVA ended August 2015. Would recommend McCambridge Duffy
You could always put an advert in Private Eye - its amazing what people ask for and then give their sort code and account number:)
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.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
