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Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:44 pm
by scottjohndavies
12 months ago I wrote a thread on this forum enquiring about full and final settlement figures. Through the advice I received, with the help of family, I submitted an offer of £9k as a full and final settlement. That was based on total debts of £31500 of which £16620 was to be the full dividend, minus payments already made of £2300. At the time, the advice I received was that seemed to be a fair offer.
Well, I submitted the offer in writing, forwarding a financial breakdown, living expenses, bank statements, payslips etc last December/January. My IP acknowledged receipt of the documentation and said that a meeting of creditors was going to be scheduled. Then in March I received a letter saying that my IVA was being passed to another IP which I will refer to as GT based in Grantham. I had to sign a new agreement. I had a letter explaining that the change of IP was not going to affect my IVA in any way. The summer months came and still no contact. I contacted GT and asked them about the delay and they said that they were inundated with Debtmatters cases and that mine was soon to be reviewed. August, September passed and still no contact. I then contacted GT again enquiring as to the progress of my offer. My IVA was now being moved again to GT in Belfast! The response I got was one of "What offer?". At this point, I'd not made a single contribution to the IVA since freezing dividends after making the offer. I'd had enough and telephoned the financial ombudsman. Within a few days of me doing this I had a letter from my original IP wiping their hands of the problem, blaming GT for the delays. GT blamed the other!!Suddenly, with the ombudsman now involved, GT wrote to me and asked me to complete another living expense form and submit my last three payslips again. When I told them that I'd done this nearly a year ago they said "Well those figures are out of date now"!!aaaGH!
So, I completed the forms and submitted the payslips again. This time they wanted an explanation in writing as to why I wanted to end the IVA early. I also had to confirm the offer of £9k still stood.
Finally a meeting of creditors was convened for Dec 10th (today)!
I got a phone call about 3pm today from GT saying that my offer had been turned down by the creditors on the grounds that it fell far below the dividend expected. I asked as to what was a fair offer? The reply I got from GT was "I have no idea".
Now, My father took out a bank loan to stump up the £9000 plus a bit more to cover the money I already owed him after he'd helped me out from time to time. I'm now paying back the repayments on the funds that now sit idle in my father's savings account, the only bonus being a small interest sum.
I simply cannot afford to return to paying IVA dividends on top of the loan repayments. My girlfriend who has been fantastic through all this has offered to try and help out by taking out a bank loan to supplement the offer.
Having spent the entire late afternoon surfing the IVA advice sites, I tried calling GT to implore them to give me a figure but their office's closed at 5pm! Great another sleepless night ahead of me!
Can anyone give me an idea what would be a reasonable offer they couldn't refuse. I want to clear my debts. I'm not too bothered about how long it takes me to repair my credit rating. After what I've gone through I never want to touch credit again.
Ps Thanks for reading this far!

S

Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:53 pm
by kallis3
Scott that is a terrible story! You certainly have been messed about.

I can't answer your question I'm afraid, but I'll put it back to the top in the hope that one of the technical experts will see it and be able to give you some good advice.

I hope you manage to get this sorted out and soon.

Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:57 pm
by Adam Davies
Hi
Ask GT to advise you on a suitable offer.
I would have thought that 11-12k may be acceptable as long as your disposible is used in full to repay your father.
In retrospect it would have been better for you to have continued with payments until the full and final was agreed
Regards

Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 7:12 pm
by scottjohndavies
Thanks, Andy. I have been putting the IVA payments to one side on most months. My over confidence that the IVA was going to be sorted meant I tended to dip into it a lot.
Would it be better for me to clear the arrears £3k approx, which would probably bring my total payments to £5k, and then make an offer of £9000 again?
I have great family who are really keen to help out. I am sick and tired of feeling stressed by this. I just want out, I wish I'd never entered the IVA.
Would £9000 + arrears seal a deal?

Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:36 pm
by clareyfarey
Scott, what a story! You have been messed around eh?
But you're in the best place now for advice; the experts on here are great and will try and help you to find a solution to your problems
Good luck with it all
C x

Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:43 pm
by Julie
Scott - you really have been messed about! Can you email your IP diret requesting the figure, then follow it up with a phonecall tomorrow?

Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:04 pm
by MelanieGiles
GT cannot confirm a figure to you, and neither can anyone on this forum - expert or otherwise Scott. The answer rests with your creditors - but in the assumption that Max Recovery are a major creditor (they usually are following various post-IVA debt purchases), it may be possible for your liaison manager at GT to discuss this with them further.

It is quite likely that this is already happening behind the scenes, but your post ought to serve as a warning to anyone not to rely upon the outcome of a creditors meeting until the creditors themselves have been able to cast their votes.

Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:20 pm
by scottjohndavies
Thanks Melanie, I have 10 creditors of which 4 are now owned by Max Recovery and 1 is with Equidebt. The remaining 5 are original creditors.

I am very disillusioned by the whole IVA process. My IP seems disinterested in my circumstances now they have me tied in - legally!
Communicating is not the easiest with them. I didn't even choose them!

I got one mobile phone call from them whilst I was out walking in the hills with my girlfriend trying to get away from things. It totally ruined the day for me.

OK, I accept I am not realistically going to be able to repay the whole debt in full, which is partly why I got into the IVA in the first place. My debt came as a result of a long term relationship breakdown. I am to this day gobsmacked how things can spiral out of control so easily. I was in Debt management for 2 years and ended up paying only the interest on the debts! What was required was drastic measures. Without the knowledge of my family and friends I tried to sort the matter out on my own. I opted for an IVA, when in hindsight it probably was the least smartest move I ever made.

Late last year after years of being in a sea of debt I fianlly plucked up the courage to discuss it with my new partner then my family. I AM LUCKY to have a fantastic girlfriend and family who are now doing their level best to help me get out of this mess, by making financial pledges that give me that break. If only we knew what it would take to sort it out. My parents jointly, earn less than I do!

Having heard all the responses to this topic, my girlfriend has offered to help partly fund an offer of £12000 to repay the debt. We are funding this by moving in with each other and sharing the bills. The pessimistic side of me thinks that there will be rules regarding that too though!

S

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:03 am
by MelanieGiles
Out of everything that you have mentioned about the dark side of your IVA, there is one big shining light here - that you have a new relationship with a fabulous lady that wants to support you. This is the future, and the past will soon be dealt with - I am sure if you can improve the offer.

I do know the partners at Grant Thornton quite well, and they take all forms of customer service very seriously. If you would like me to draw this issue to their personal attention, please e-mail me at my website and I will contact them for you.

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 5:45 pm
by scottjohndavies
Well, I've been to work today and come home to find an answer machine message from GT stating that they have reviewed the rejecting of the offer with 'Max Recovery'.

The message from GT says that Max Recovery have now changed their mind and are now willing to accept the £9000 offer!!!!!!

I could not believe it, I had to listen to it several times before it sunk in. I want to phone GT but their offices closed at 5pm!! I am not counting my chickens yet given what I've gone through in the last 12 months but the signs are optimistic!

Thank you for all your support, best of luck and best wishes for Xmas and New Year everyone!!!

[:D]

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 5:51 pm
by Lisa2009
Brilliant news xxx

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 5:57 pm
by kallis3
Fantastic news! Good luck for the future.

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:34 pm
by Skippy
Congratulations and good luck for the future to you and your girlfriend x

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:51 pm
by pixie
Fantastic news, now you can put all this behind you and move on. Best wishes for your debt free future.

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:58 pm
by Adam Davies
Hi
What great news
I wonder if Mel has worked her magic or has flagged your posting upto GT.
I have met, with Mel, the senior partners in GT and have to say that they genuinely do care about their business and clients.
Regards