www.iva.co.uk

Hi Experts
Apologies in advance if any of this sounds ranty
I have an IVA which is being handled by Debt Free Direct. I payed a Full & final settlement amount back in April 2012. When I chased them up in August 2012 they sent me some PPI forms to complete, which I did. I sent these forms to Equity and Finance and they received them on 9th September. I then phoned DFD around November 2012 to find out why it was taking so long to get my IVA closed and they said they had had delays, but I was in a priority queue. I phoned them again this morning and they told me they have been held up, along with all their other IVAs, because of a VAT issue and also, after I enquired, they said they had no notes about the PPI claims, which would hold up the IVA completion. I then phoned E&F and they told me the date they received my paperwork (above) and that they had 3 RBS claims with a WIP status, but none with letters sent along with an incorrectly closed Northern Rock claim.
My question is, given that they have not been busy closing IVAs, that I fulfilled my end of the F&F agreement and that it is their job to manage my IVA, should I a) have expected to have a certificate of completion by now, b) be able to expect a better, proactive service and c) expect any recompense for their failure to represent me properly (I’m not sure on this point as to whether they represent me, or my creditors, but I know they have received money for running the account and I definitely feel that they have let me down here).
I saw on your forums that Declan was able to help others who were trying to close their F&Fs back in April 2012, so I am assuming that DFD are completely fobbing me off when they say there is nothing they can do to speed things up. Based on their lack of any action on the PPI front, I don’t believe they have done anything with my account in the last 8 months.
Any ideas to the above, or suggestions on how to speed up the process would be greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks
Andy

You can only keep the pressure on them but this year should see the closure of most cases. There have been problems beyond the control of IPs but these are mostly ironed out and cases are closing again.

Hi Michael,

thank you for your reply.

Does anyone know what have the issues been? Would any of them prevent DFD from keeping me informed or from doing their job in chasing the PPI that they were desperate to initiate to start with? I'm angry about this because the whole point of the F&F from my point of view was to enable me to get my credit rating built up again and, so far as I can tell, it's all been for nothing. I had to put relationships at risk to borrow the money to make my final payment and now it seems that I'm just being left in limbo. Is there anyone who would act on this? FSO?

Even now there are queries regarding whether the creditors can offset PPI against their debts or whether the money is paid into the pot. There is a guidance to be issued very soon which may allow cases such as yours to be closed even if the PPI and VAT issues have not been entirely resolved.

This guidance should be out soon so as I say keep the pressure on DFD and you could be one of the first to get closed.

Hi agowinuk and welcome, sadly DFD don't seem to be proritising anyone at the moment and there are a number of us still waiting for that all important piece of paper.

Strange how they say they are prioritising people in my reponse to my formal complaint they stated they don't 'prioritise others against other'. Seems to me the left one doesn't know what the right one does!

I totally agree with Micheal's people continue to pressue them because they will put you on a shelf and forget you, they denied having received an email from me 3 weeks previously which enabled them to arrange a variation meeting so it was apologies all round when i forwarded them a copy!!! Terrible customer care.

Oh forgot to say that the reason given to me regarding the HMRC in the same response was that they have gone over to a new computing service, what a load of $%&*%$4's.

Welcome to the forum Andy.gw.

I was with DFD and our IVA completed a couple years ago now, but I found by communicating on a regular basis with the IP and the admin team this helped to speed up the closure process. I was lucky in as far as Declan from DFD was about on the forum at that point and did step in to clear it alot quicker for me as circumstances meant I needed a swift closer.
However I know that Declan is no longer able to do that, and does not post on the forum any longer.
The customer service team at DFD are very good and will log your calls and queries, so my advice will be to ring them weekly to chase this, and if promised something that does not happen, ring daily until it is done. I believe there is a lady called Judith at DFD that has helped out many forum members in these circumstances so you may want to ask for her when you get through and see what happens.
I know it is frustrating but it will happen x