www.iva.co.uk

before an IVA, is set up, as with debt management is there any fee that needs to be paid upfront before any help can be started?????

no but watch for firms like eurodebt who try to con you with upfront fees

Hi Nanette and welcome.

The setting up of an IVA or DMP should not involve any fees being paid upfront. No reputable company will charge you.

You may be asked to pay your initial DMP/IVA payment upfront so that it is ready to go if you are approved, but that is all.

If you are thinking of a debt solution, I recommend you either visit www.iva.com for a list of reputable companies and reviews or click on the expert link on the left hand side of the page. The professionals who post on here come highly recommended and will advise you as to all the options open to you and the best way forward for your circumstances.

Chris, Eurodebt don't try to con you - they are quite upfront on their website about charging you.

That said, I wouldn't touch a company like that anyway.

As stated the majority of firms do not charge upfront fees for either an IVA or DMP and those that do would need to explain cogent reasons why!

The ones who do charge are usually 'arrangers' - they don't have their own IP's and pass you on to a firm who does, and they obviously charge you for doing this.

Make sure, if you are going down either of those routes, that you choose a reputable firm with their own IP's.

Hi Nanette, we paid an upfront fee to a company who passed us on to the company who set up our IVA. We have been very happy with this company so far, but in hindsight, we could have kept that money and gone straight to one of the professionals on here with no fee.

In saying this, guess how we paid the upfront fee [:I]

Wouldn't have been a credit card would it BOT?[:)]

If it was, I can't believe they allowed you to pay by that method when that's what you were trying to sort out![:0]

You must have special deductive powers Jan [;)] [:D]

I should have been a detective BOT, instead of a PC Plod![:D]

I'm a defective Jan [:D][:D]

Did I read this right?

A packager has taken a payment for a potential IVA by credit card when it is preparing to put forward a case for Insolvency, thereby directly increasing the indebtedness of the individual who is Insolvent?

No Size5, we didn't pay directly by card, we withdrew the cash - not their suggestion by the way - desperate people do desperate things, nothing that we're proud of. It does however highlight the point that people are making of avoiding these tactics and going direct.

Ahhh. Understood.

Was just about to fall off my high horse then!!

It does raise a whole new debate though, as you have alluded to above, on the issue of how quickly some firms want upfront payments in and where clients get the money from.

Regards.

Our thoughts exactly, fortunately we were still at the point where we hadn't missed any payments - but were about to, and we still had a card that wasn't maxed out. What would we have done then if we had no credit left????