www.iva.co.uk

CONSIDERING AN IVA

Then it would be worth asking questions relating to the time the Certificate of Closure is issued after the last payment is made before making your choice.

It appears some IP issue the CC within weeks of the final payment yet others can take years !!!

Any recommendations from those who have been fortunate enough to have had a speedy and successful closure. These recommendations could help reduce the intense stress and anxiety that lengthy closure of IVAs can cause.

Also those who have had lengthy delays in the issue of the CC name the companies as those to be avoided which may prompt improved service for those concerned.

WE WANT TO KNOW OF BEST PRACTICE.

Congratulations to :

Payplan)

Cleardebt

Melanie Giles

Freeman Jones

who have made the ethical, responsible and necessary decision to allow IVA completion and the issue of the Certificate of Closure, without having to wait for the lengthy PPI claim to be completed.

Trouble is, Philip, being less than satisfactory at closures doesn't mean they are bad at conducting an IVA -- and the reverse also applies. A speedy closure is no good if you have had 5 years of hell getting there!

Hopefully the closures fiasco will come to an end and those companies who conduct IVA's well will get their acts back together.

As an instance, (and I won't name the particular company), from your list, there is one company who was very pro-active in getting their closure process sorted, but, as for conducting an IVA, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, due to many of their policies. That said they do have many happy clients.

[quote]Originally posted by Foggy

Trouble is, Philip, being less than satisfactory at closures doesn't mean they are bad at conducting an IVA -- and the reverse also applies. A speedy closure is no good if you have had 5 years of hell getting there!

Hopefully the closures fiasco will come to an end and those companies who conduct IVA's well will get their acts back together.

As an instance, (and I won't name the particular company), from your list, there is one company who was very pro-active in getting their closure process sorted, but, as for conducting an IVA, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, due to many of their policies. That said they do have many happy clients.

Hi Foggy, good point made but there must be some IPs who conduct their IVA process and closure well and they should be congratulated and rewarded with clients looking for quality IPs with best practice recommendations. The Forum can be a place that supports best practice,identifies poor practice and helps to allieviate some of the stress and anxiety involved with IVA process.

True, Philip, and I hope, that by reading around the forum, those considering an IVA can see how certain firms operate. In my time here I have seen several firms, in turn, get lambasted for a particular problem, after which, once solved, they resumed excellent service.

Many firms take note of what is discussed on here --- some, evidently, don't appear to. And ... some firms simply stand head and shoulders above the rest.

It is vitally important, and a point oft stressed on here, that prospective IVA'ers research and chat to several firms, to see how they work, compare advice and find someone they feel they can work with for 5 or 6 years. As I said above, one firm I wouldn't touch with a barge pole has many happy clients .... one man's meat is another man's poison, I guess.

We often point people at www.iva.com where IP's are listed, with reviews. One of the best things we can do as IVA'ers is to add to those reviews, good and bad, for all to see.

Running an IVA portfolio does not need to be difficult, although it is labour and resource intensive, and I fear that the drastic cuts in fee income that have been enforced on the profession over the last few years have meant that firms are not cutting their cloth very keenly and are perhaps not able to offer best service completely across the board as they would perhaps like to if they could afford to.

Creditors - ie those who set our fee levels - do not care. All they are generally interested in is getting their dividend payments each quarter. It is sad to see what has happened in this profession over the past few years.

I see the point, Mel. But it will be the creditors who lose out in the ene when, for reasons of customer service driving clients / debtors away, along with more IP's closing shop due to reduced fees, more turn to BR to solve debt problems.

Sage words Foggy - the trouble is that it will take most of the lenders at least five years to realise that the trend (if what you predict is right) has changed.