Thank you Andy - I did spot the post earlier, but by the time I got round to responding it had disappeared.
To Cynical:-
You appear to assume much of my relationship with this forum and motivation to post, and of course I completely respect your opinion as I do of all posters on here - both those who work in the profession, and those who are perhaps more qualified to comment - those people who have suffered or are continuing to suffer from financial difficulties.
In my professional life, I engage much with a variety of media, regularly speak at professional and public conferences and am asked to partake in industry and government initiatives to better our profession which I am proud to be part of. You may deem this to be direct marketing, or even terms as tacky as "touting for business". I prefer to call it my desire to give something back to a profession which has given me so much over a long period of time - both in personal career development and knowledge of the debt arena affecting both personal and corporate insolvency cases.
Given that I assume you to work in this profession, perhaps and most likely for one of the firms who also engage in the provision of personal insolvency services, you will be well versed in the practices of how firms receive their work, which come from a variety of sources including direct lead purchase, direct advertising and referrals from intermediaries. My work comes from a number of sources, but does not include the first two - apart from my usual Yellow Pages ad.
You mention several times in your posts that you are concerned about advice being provided on this forum not being impartial. I simply do not understand what you mean by this, and to be frank I find it pretty insulting. Making such bold statements, and hiding behind a pseudonym, makes me question your credibility. I have never touted for business on this forum, and at times if my posts appear to be doing so I can assure you that I have had the occasional slap on the knuckles from Andy and the Admin team, as I assume that other professionals have.
The IVA cases that come to my firm as a result of my posting are miniscule, compared to the amount of time I spend in my own time posting to assist others - with over 75% of forum posts these days from people already in IVAs, providing absolutely no opportunity to market directly. If I was going to use this forum as a marketing tool, I would have given up a long time ago, and certainly would not be spending my evenings or weekends at the laptop!
Assuming you are in the same profession as me, perhaps at a senior level, you will know about current transparency required by the OFT with regard to the dislosure of work sources by IP practices and debt management companies alike. There are some aspects of this which are necessary, and some which may not be so needed, but it certainly will make interesting reading as some firms are required to show their colours.
Should you wish to reveal your real identity on the forum in order that we can all learn a little more about your motivation, then I will be delighted to engage with you further. You may prefer to take this off-line and e-mail me directly in which case our discussions can continue.
Finally, can I thank all of the other contributors to this post - especially my fellow professionals, some of whom I have had many a long chat about the spirit of this forum, and one which we will fiercely preserve well into the future.
Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner
