www.iva.co.uk

Hi,

Can anyone advise when IVA's became a legal way of managing debt? i.e when were they initially introduced and widely accepted by creditors as a means of settling debts ?

Many thanks,
Neil.

I believe it was about 1986 with the advent of the Insolvency Act,Neil.

Hey Jan,

Thanks for your reply!
The reason i ask is because back in 2002 the CCCS avised me to commence a DMP (Debt Management Plan) that I' will be clearing in 2012 (yes 10 years!!). They made no mention of the possibility of an IVA (5-6 years) and to make things worse, 2 of my creditors have been reporting on my credit file 'AP' (arrangement to pay) and these will not clear from my credit file til 2015!!!
So i really feel that the CCCS gave me awful advice and mis-sold the DMP. So i'm now raising a complaint as there is NO WAY that i would have selection an option that would have impacted my credit rating for 14 years if i had known!!!!!!

You may well have found that if you could clear your debts in 10 years, then an IVA wouldn't have been approved anyway - some creditors won't agree to them.

If you wish to make a complaint, then you firstly need to go through CCCS complaint procedure, and you should find details about that on their website.

The other thing I will say is that perhaps they recommended a DMP because an IVA wasn't suitable at the time?

Initially IVA's were set up for business users they then slowly became a useful tool for the masses to regain control of their finances.

Regards BP

my debt was in 2002... er-hum......55k so i feel in hindsight that an IVA was the MOST appropriate method to follow. Any thoughts?

ps - my DMP is not due to finish until 2013 (11+ years) AND i did have significant equity in my property when the DMP was set up

I can only repeat that if you have a complaint about CCCS, you take it up with them in the first instance.

I initiated a complaint with them today....their initial response was 'we cannot be held to what a creditor may report to your credit file'. My response to this was 'you should at least have told me what their array of potential actions could have been'. If they had told me that a creditor could potentially report 'AP' (Arrangement to Pay) on my credit file until 6 years after the debt was cleared, i would NOT have agreed to a DMP! Grrrrr!!!

Unfortunately most creditors will put something like that on the file. Once you have paid your DMP off, you can write to your creditos and ask them to remove the markers from your file.

Even though you were not offered an IVA, please remember that if you would have been able to go down that route, there would have been no guarantee that you would have been approved.

i really cant see a creditor removing their previously reported account status once the account is settled...can you?
In fact, i recently settled my Capital One account to zero but they still show 'Arrangement to pay' on my file from 2003 up to december 2008 and wont remove those entries....

You can buy try. I know they have to remove defaults put on once an IVA is approved.

I do agree with CCCS though in as much as they cannot tell the creditors what to put.

Rather than complain about what is happening with your record, if you feel strongly that you should have been offered an IVA, then put in a complaint about that. If you get nowhere nowhere with that, you could visit this link and see if you can take it further:

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/howtocompl ... inssip.htm

kallis3 wrote:

I do agree with CCCS though in as much as they cannot tell the creditors what to put.

Hi Kallis3, thanks for your reply...

You've mis-read what I've written, I didn't say that the CCCS should tell creditors what to put, I said that the CCCS should at the very least have told ME that creditors COULD potentially report 'AP' (Arrangement to Pay) on my credit file until 6 years after the debt was cleared (currently it will impact my credit file for a total of 15 years from 2002 to 2015).

kallis3 wrote:

Rather than complain about what is happening with your record, if you feel strongly that you should have been offered an IVA, then put in a complaint about that.

My issue here is that I was not (a) given all of the information that I should have been given and (b) i was not advised of all of the options that would have been available to me. Ultimately these two failings on the part of the CCCS will impact me for a total of 15 years. If I had either gone bankrupt or had an IVA, I would not
have any negative marks at all on my credit file now and i would not still have £19k to pay over the next 4 years

Bear in mind that the CCCSare paid by the banks so you can question whether the advice given was best for you or them. You should have been advised to speak to an IP firm and you could have been debt free now. I do not think that you have any recourse but it is definitely a salutory lesson for those people in trouble who are advised to seek help from so called charities.

Our bank firmly suggested CCCS and Payplan - no others. The Citizens Advice (here at any rate) exactly the same. CCCS and Payplan told my husband b/r the one and only way - as did several others. Melanie took the opposite view but still explained all the options in detail and what the implications of each would be. When my husband opted for IVA she got it through at first attempt. J