www.iva.co.uk

Hi. I have just started looking at IPs and intend to contact one or two over the next week or so, but would like to know if anyone could give me some advice, I have kept up with my payments on cards up till now but I am 6 days on a card min payment of £36 but have been barraged with a phone calls for the last few days. I have just seen that if you don,t give them the security details for you account they can,t hassle you and can,t go into details about your account but they have contacted my ex employer which happens to be the place my brother works at and they managed to get my brother on the phone thinking it was me (same surname) and went into great detail of how much my balance is and heavy tactics on when and how HE intended to pay the arrears, now he knows my situation I didn,t really want this because I am only just coming to terms with all this myself . my questions is can they do this and also, am I right in thinking this is just the start of it all and there is worse to come. thanks

That is very unfortunate, but you must have given them the number when you filled out the application form, and they have obviously asked for Mr **********.

If this sort of behaviour has begun, then you ought to consider taking professional advice at an early stage so that the ball can be rolling which ever debt solution you deem to be the most appropriate.

What you have articulated is just harrassment and illegal. Take professional advice as soon as possible. For a list of IP's visit www.iva.com and see reports on a number of them and discuss your problems with one or two of them. Good luck.

They normally ask for a date of birth as well before launching into their bullying. I'm surprised they divulged information to your brother.

I am sorry that you have experienced this. As Jan says, I am surprised that they did not check that they were speaking to the correct Mr XXX before they went into further details. I would be tempted to give them a ring and tell them of their mistake and inform them that they are in breach of the data protection act.

Unfortunately once you stop making the required payments to your creditors they will start to chase you for payment. However hopefully once your chosen IP has written to them all and explained what is going on some of the calls should stop. In any event it will be a short term pain which will be worth the peace of mind you get if your arrangement is approved.