www.iva.co.uk

I'd agree with optimist that we have to accept responsibility....and in fairness most posts I've read on here do..... As Op says, we chose to borrow and should accept our responsibility to pay back as much as we can if our loan agreements fail for whatever reason. However, there's never an excuse for ignorance and rudenes on either side, particularly as it won't ever achieve anything positive. Catallus gave great advice on this on another thread....if a creditor is behaving unreasonably in their approach to communications, at the start of the next call, tell the caller that the call is being recorded because of previous harrassment.... might not stp calls altogether, but likely to improve the quality of them!!!

Martin

I was harrassed to the point of insanity, if it wasnt for the fact I have kids I dont think I would still be here, to be honest I thought about suicide every single day. If and its a big if you could actually talk to the creditors themselves instead of people trying to extract a payment (even though youre sick of telling them, I lost my job, am ill and cant pay). then maybe 'nice' might be nice.

I dont think that anyone who owes money would be nasty cos they cant pay, they are usually afraid, ashamed and harrassing to the point of insanity isnt a two way thing, is it? Like someone else has said, we aint people, we are numbers and I am not talking nice little black numbers.

I have never been rude to anyone, but they have been very rude to me, if only hearing and listening were the same thing.........

lily

They didn't win Lilly, you did and I doubt the people that treated you that way go home feeling very proud of themselves....with any luck, what goes around, comes around!!

There's never an excuse for nastiness, in any walk of life..... hopefully those kind of people are a minority and wouldn't survive long in a role that surely must be most effective usind positive communication skills..... Whatever is said or written though, we are people, not numbers, and one of the great things about this place is realising what a pretty great bunch of people we are on the whole, sure, we've made mistakes, but the level of mutual support and genuine caring here speaks volumes about our real values...

Martin

Absolutely - there is never any excuse for rude or aggressive behaviour on the phone. But if you do encounter one of these "rogue" members of staff then try not to get involved in a heated slanging match. Nothing sensible is likely to come out of it and - if either side really IS recording the call then I think anyone listening to it later on will think far more of the calm collected person as against someone being loud and unpleasant.

On the wider point I have a large number of Creditors and - to be honest - nearly all my dealings with these companies were conducted in a reasonable and sensible manner.Maybe I have just been lucky - I dont know. True - some were persistent and this resulted in repeating the same thing time and time again. Pointless. BUT lets remember that we do owe them money - regardless of the rights and wrongs of the circumstances that caused us to have problems (and the fact that many companies are far to free and easy in dishing out credit).

jpj - Fair point - but the thing is we DO have IVAS available - thank goodness. But it takes the Creditors to approve them. And also true - the interest and charges on credit cards etc. are very very high. But it all goes back to the fact that noone makes us take out credit - and I just feel that - whatever their part in creating the individuals problems - we should recognise that creditors are doing us a very big favour by writing off a big chunk of debt.

I do not think creditors do anyone any favours to be honest.

They dont lend money out of the goodness of their hearts, its buisness. If they didnt think we were a good risk (for making a buck on the interest they charge) they would have said NO.

At the end of the day circumstnaces change, credit culture is upon us, like kids in a sweet shop we went for it, too late now, whoops. They took the risk and lost.

The stress of owing, not nice, being chased, even worse. Some will lose their homes, the children and relationships will suffer.

Repaying what you can isnt the only challenge for many here, there are times when even your very best efforts are not enough.

Doing us a favour for writing off what we CAN NOT pay, I dont think so. IVA's are not possible for some people.

There is more than one way to feel good about doing the right thing, whatever the challenges are.

lily

lily i agree with you, what we do is a process of damage limitation. my client's realise they won't receive payment in full so want as much back as they can which is why they prefer iva's over bankruptcy.

the debt recovery agents that a lot of you guys have had dealings with get paid a percentage of what they recover and only hold the accounts for a period of time this is designed to incentify the company to recover as much money as they can which is why some of them will ask for token payments. in some of the firms the individual collectors for these firms receive a basic salary + collection bonus. the more they collect the more they earn. this is why you will receive call after call.

Thank you Insol, I appreciate that, its great to see a 'human face' (well virtually) of a creditor, with a human insight and understanding human limitations. Wouldnt it be fantastic if the companies as a whole would be like this? organisations do seem to take on a super human ethos that leave the individual perplexed, desperate and isolated and not just business organisations, indeed.

Its great that you post here, I wish my crediotrs had been as understanding.

lily

In every loan or card payment there is what's known as a BDP, or Bad Debt Provision. In laymans terms, a proportion of each payment made is put aside to cover the debts that go bad, ie those that need to be written off. It is important to remember that because of this, any money that you do repay, albeit at a lesser rate per month etc, becomes pure profit because the bad debt has already been accounted for. It is therefore unsurprising that they take a view that the more they can collect the better, regardless of genuine circumstances.
Remember that the law is on your side, you cannot be asked for money that you do not have. For those of you who find it difficult to deal with harrassment, I have found that a very effective way to deal with unpleasant callers is to answer the phone pleasantly and ask them to hold as you have a pot on the stove. Go and watch Coronation Street or something for 20 minutes or so. You will find that they will not still be on the line when you get back.
They call PURELY to get money and they will not waste time holding for someone as they have targets to meet. You will only need to do this once or twice and you will see a marked difference. Trust me, it works.

What a fantastic post size 5, I feel better already.

We have to do what we can and move on, not let it become a way of life so that we feel too guilty to live. I am not having beans of toast for christmas dinner and I dont feel guilty about it.

lily

Lily - I agree. There are so many people that get so depressed about it all that they actually commit suicide. Is Money worth more than life? I think not. I understand that the debtor was the one to borrow, but don't forget the creditor was the one to lend, and its 50/50. Debtor and creditor should work together for a positive outcome!

debbiw, what a brilliant post from you !!! them words are perfect and make you feel so much better. Thank you.
I see you are a IVA Journeyman now too !!

Thankyou Caraf, I am now blushing! I am a Journeyman now, and very proud of it.

I agree that we borrowed the money and should shoulder the blame, however obtaining credit over the last few years has been so easy these companies were literally throwing money at people, getting into serious debt had never been easier.
The bubble appears to have burst now, more and more people are in financial trouble, repossessions are rising dramatically, banks are getting into trouble due to irresponsible management, Northern Rock would have gone to the wall without the intervention of the British taxpayers, so now all of a sudden banks have had a serious wake up call and are starting to take a harder more sensible line.
This is probably a good thing, remove the temptation of easy money, result, less people in debt. [:D][:D][:D]

Optomist... Creditors do the generous favour of accepting IVAs because they know they will often end up with sod all otherwise!!
It was the government that invented IVAs in the first place...not creditors!
I got my first credit when i was about 18, I went into an IVA at 38 years old...can you imagine how much in charges and fees i have paid in 20 years?? probably a lot more than my IVA has written off!!

Hi
Quote"It was the government that invented IVAs in the first place...not creditors!"
A very good point JPJ
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson and Website Manager

About me:
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IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
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