www.iva.co.uk

hahaha, another Bank charge saga!

The firms promoting debt aviodance say if the Consumer credit act can be proven to be unfair their the debt is uneforceable.OK.

100,000 cases are to be heard like those early bank charge cases. But now only test cases will run to decide....the courts will be all clogged up if these cases ran individually ...not to mention the appeals to be lodged!!

The shock here is that if the debt is written off in those cases- its still in the credit file -till its paid off.hahahha

Thoussands who payed for these comapanies to get them off debts will have an impaired creditfile for life! What a joke.

you make me laugh but true....people pay fees to get out of debt then find that if successful their credit rating is still 0!! Only Banks can change it.

You both see everything in black and white don't you?

While I don't agree with debt avoidance a lot of people have probably been promised the earth by unscrupulous companies and are going to end up in more trouble than they started with.

Its about asking questions before one signs anything as adults.
These companies are allowed to roam like vagabonds to prey on people. Did people not think just because the CC company can't enforce payment, the credit file is then cleaned of the debt???? To have a low credit rating and no debts to pay is absolutely contridictory and nonsense. Debtors cannot use the 'I wasn't aware' line again as they did when getting into unservicable debt. Once bitten twice shy

Are you in an IVA Timeforchange?

There's no excuse for people using these companies now as there's been a fair bit of publicity about them, but I'm sure some people who don't know about IVAs/DMPs and are scared of BR thought it was the only way out.

Oh and in case anyone thinks it, I'm not condoning debt avoidance!

I think both posters are very negative in what they post on here.

I have always said that these companies should be avoided, purely as it is debt avoidance.

I really am not interested in what happens to people who use them, or what happens to their credit rating.

well said Jan.

and also come as a double act.

What is a debt avoidance firm?

My sister was phoned up a few months ago by a company that told her they could wipe her debt clean if they could find 1 tiny bit wrong in the legal side of her loans. She had to pay them £200 per loan to have a look at all her loan agreements to see if she had been misold anything or if the wording was wrong and it would make the loan invalid.

They have so far promised to recover £15000, but that was about 2 months ago and she still has nothing from them. She has so far paid out £600 to them ( which she had to borrow) to look at 3 of her loans. Is this a debt avoidance firm?

Has anyone else had one of these companies phone them? Is she likely to ever get this £15000 or has she borrowed and paid out £600 for no reason?

As far as I am concerned, yes it is.

We borrowed the money, it is our responsibility to pay it back, or as much as we can afford. My personal opinion is that by getting this money written off, you are avoiding paying your debts.

Having not heard anything about anyone having money recovered via this method, I can't comment, but it is possible that this money has been lost.

If someone you knew, lent you some money and then you claimed that they didn't and that the debt was unenforceable - would you expect anyone who heard the story ever to lend you anything ever again?

Rather than a "debt avoidance firm" - whatever that actually is - I would suggest that she has been caught by the latest scam.

I suppose we call it that because they are trying to get you to avoid paying your debts.

the thing is most of these companies dont really do anything.. there is a legitimate new law regarding catalogue debts that if you opened an account after a certain date and did not sign a consumer credit agreement then they can not enforce the debt. However the majority of us on here are actually trying to pay back the debts we have incurred, rather than avoid the issue.

It isn't just catalogue debts - it is any debt before a certain date and there is a problem with the agreement.

I totally agree that the posters on here are responsible enough to face up to their debts and want to do their best to pay them off.

I also agree with Melanie that this is the latest scsm. Whilst there are a few legitimate companies (regardless of what you think, there is a loophole) - there will also be ones just out to make a quick buck!