www.iva.co.uk

My IP advised me to hide savings I had before taking out the IVA, I was advised to take the cash out of the bank and store it at home, I did this and my house has since been robbed and the money has gone with it. This has been reported to the police and im worried my creditors will find out and it will cause me even more problems. Im now worried i wasn't given the best advice from my IP. Im scared raising the issue will cause me more problems. I do not know what to do Im worried sick can anybody help.

A modest amount saved up before an IVA should not present any problems left in the bank. Regardless of the amount I cannot understand why an IP would give such advice!

Could I ask how much savings we are talking about ?

Perhaps not all IPs are as honest and upstanding as those that frequent here....

I dare say he same IP would happily deny all knowledge and see you in court if creditors got wind of the false statements made(if not why hide the money?), making false statement in a proposal I believe is a criminal offence

Martin

The advice given surely leaves the IP wide open to potential fraud (as in people claiming to have money stolen, in hope of the IP reimbursing)

Martin

Several thousand. Perhaps he felt sorry for me - I had gotten into massive debt trying to cope with my husbands gambling debts, have always tried to squirrel away something for myself, I'm in my sixties, not exactly a high earner. That money was everything. We are selling our home and any equity will now go to pay off the iva, as planned. That leaves us with nothing. Nothing at all. I thought everything that could ever go wrong has gone wrong, and then we were burgled and the safe was stolen. My concern is that now, I will go to prison on top of everything else

My daughter is insisting the police won't bring charges themselves, it would have to be reported by the IP or the creditors themselves, but if its a crime why wouldn't the police prosecute me if they know about it, as I've gone and told them?

Really sorry to read this. Surprised you were encouraged to save this amount of money and were able to save this amount either prior to your iva being approved or since it has been approved. However whats happened has happened ...the money is no longer. You will need to work with your IP and the police where appropriate to agree the next step.

It might be worth future savings to be added to a savings account in a bank which we are all entitled to have during an IVA rather than gathering lots of cash in your house. The Yorkshire Bank offer a good savers account for people in IvAs

If you end up in prison your IP could end up there too

I suspect if it ever got to court the IP would be treated more harshly, as it could be argued he/she took advantage of an arguably vulnerable client

If you can prove what happened (eg email or letter), I'd be looking for legal advice and filing a complaint with the regulator (http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/contac ... ts-Gateway)

If your proposal hasn't been approved/presented to creditors I'd find another IP

Martin

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by Emma.44

My daughter is insisting the police won't bring charges themselves, it would have to be reported by the IP or the creditors themselves, but if its a crime why wouldn't the police prosecute me if they know about it, as I've gone and told them?

If I were you I'd want proper legal advice, as potentially your both party to fraud. The advice given by me (an amateur, whose just interested in IVAs cos I've got one) and others may not be at all safe to rely on

Martin

It's the IP's word against mine - no proof that he was involved, just it was what he advised me to do if I could. I didn't even think about it being fraudulent, he made it sound like everyone did it.

if it was a big firm was there any indication that calls were recorded ?

Martin

I realise that sounds ridiculous now - its hard to explain, when you are in this situation because of some-one else's gambling addiction you don't thi nk very clearly. My husband has himself gone bankrupt.

I am pretty speechless to be honest, that a member of my profession could provide such poor advice to a vulnerable client - and in turn put that client to risk. Are you prepared to name and shame Emma - as this sort of practice needs reporting, as your IP has effectively encouraged you to defraud your creditors, if what you say is true. Our profession does not need characters like this to continue to give it a bad name.

Hi Emma,
Look the damage has been done, I assume you knew the risks of keeping cash in the home. I would suspect your IP was trying to help you and was prepared to break/bend the rules to do so. Yes this is fraud but I very much doubt the police would be interested other than to catch the culprits.
Raising the issue with your IP or the creditors I can't see the point as it will only make the situation much worse for you as a person and that's all I care about.

I am just a normal person not an IP etc just trying to help you. You are more important in all this and you have been punished enough by having the cash robbed.

Good luck

Not without legal advice Melanie... and guess what... I can't afford it Thanks Canaries, I do feel a bit swallowed up in all of this. I'm just a normal person too.