www.iva.co.uk

Hi all, this is the first time I have posted on here though I have been reading for a while.

We contacted Debt Solutions Helpline the beginning of December, submitted all paperwork and was told we were going to have a case worker assigned to us and she would contact us.

Well she was a week late phoning us. She said our paperwork will take a few weeks to sort out but we should have a date for the IVA meeting with the creditors by 21 days.

Since then we have had to chase her up constantly. She keeps saying she's dealing with it and will call us back on a certain day, but then she doesn't so we have to call her. Then she went on holiday for a week, which is fair enough but noone at her office could deal with us! When she came back we kept leaving messages and beginning of this week she said she'd passed our case over to another department as my husband is a Director of a small company and it was complicated but the man from that department would call us back on Tuesday, well surprise surprise we haven't heard a word.

Is this normal, are we being impatient? We are tempted to look elsewhere, but it just means starting all over again.

To be honest we know its not an easy process but we are more annoyed that we haven't been contacted at all only when we phone and make a fuss.

Has anyone else had a bumpy start? What would you advise?

We were told this would be sorted out either way by middle of January.

Kind regards

Emma[:)]

Sorry to hear about your problems.

Our IP was great, always contacting us to advise of process and from start (enquiring) to finish (IVA acceptence date) it took about 2 months. All the way along we were very happy with the communication. It is upto you but maybe start with another company. Good Luck!

Hi thank you for replying

I am quite an impatient person, but also find the lack of communication frustrating. The initial man I spoke to was lovely and considerate but since we've been passed over the communication has stopped, so I feel that was all an act to get us to go with that company. Anyway, I have said that if they haven't contacted us by tomorrow we should look elsewhere, afterall we need to be able to trust them for the next 5 or so years. Its our life they are dealing with, along with our 3 little girls so I need to be able to trust them.

So if anyone has a company they could recommend it would be much appreciated.

Kind regards

Emma

hi mummy.
arranging an iva is stressful enough without the iva company causing added stress.
if theyre doing this to you now you may have another 5 years of this-not good.
if the iva is not finalised it is not too late to seek advice from another company.
have a look on www.iva.com and look at the reviews.
its not too late and maybe you should reconsider because 5 years is a long time to put up with shoddy service.
good luck hun and post if you need us x [:)]

my ip who posts on here is such a nice caring person.
her company were sooo friendly and lovely.
she even answers my emails within 4 mins !
thats the kind of service you should be looking for hun good luck x

Hi & Welcome.
Sorry to hear about your dealings with your present company. And you are right you need to be able to trust them & be comfortable with them in an IVA. Our company was brilliant at the start kept us well informed by phone calls & letters & we had our IVA approved in a month from first phoning them. Just now we are having difficulties getting any help or advice during our IVA now. Hence the reason we have joined this forum - its a great support during an IVA.
Some of the forum experts on here are highly reccommended - just take a look an the right left hand side of the website.
I can quite understand you not being happy with your present company & quite agree with the terrible service you are receiving & would also be seriously moving to another IVA provider.
I too have two little boys & you need all the support you can get going through financial difficulties. So you need an excellent firm to help guide you through the process & during a IVA (5 years is along time & things dont always stay the same).
Have you paid this company any upfront fees yet? I am sure there will be others on this forum to help soon. Just keep checking in on your post & let us know how you get on.

Hi

No we haven't paid them any fees. We had a man come out to take evidence of our debts and said once they were back in the office the process would begin, but like I say that was back in the middle of December and we haven't heard anything back! We were given a rough estimate of what we could expect to pay back each month. With debts of £21,000 it was about £350.00 per month but nothing has been put in writing. I have just spoken to my poor harrassed husband and he is seeking advice through the National Debt Helpline. We have decided not to proceed with this other company. We have been paying our credit cards each month upto last month on the advice of the lady at the ip company who said not to pay anything now as the iva would be set up by middle of Jan. I didn't want to stop paying until the iva was officially up and running as didn't want to get into arrears!

We sought the iva out as we are paying nearly £500.00 per month in ccards and loans and it wasn't leaving much left over and we were starting to use our c cards for food/clothes etc, so a vicous circle! I can't believe it as we remortgaged two years ago to pay off all our debts and now look at us!!!!!

Thanks for your replies I really do appreciate it.

kind regards

Emma[:)]

its so unfair for you to be worrying
why not contact one of the experts on here ?
melanie, andy and viki and size 5 all are highly recommended-will give you sound advice and none of the nonsense you have endured so far
good luck whatever you decide

Mommymook, we've all been there, and can totally sympathise with how you are feeling. It is not good to be messed about like this - you are stressed enough!

I do recommend that you speak to another company. If you click on the expert link on the left hand side of the page here, you will find a list of professional (and other!) experts who post on here. They all come highly recommended. Give one or two a ring, the advice costs nothing.

Are you sure that they are a firm of IPs? They sound more like a packaging company to me, who will eventually refer you to an IP.