F&F - how confusing can it be??

[AndyD2]

I've just contacted my IVA to enquire about a F&F.

My total debts were £61,878.86, and my creditors agreed to a 51p dividend, making the total debt repayable to creditors £31,559.

My contributions totalled £39468, made up of 66 payments of £598.

At my first annual review last March, it confirmed the payments I had mate totalled £7176, but that after the initial Nomination Fee (£2.5k), Supervisors Fee (£900), Costs (£160) and Vat, my contributions were only worth £3004.30.[:0] The annual review also stated that due to the supervisors costs, the dividend looked likely to reduce to 48p.

This year I have contributed a total of £6578 (one payment short due to change in salary pay date). Working on the same forecast of Supervisors fee, costs and VAT I work this out to be about £5324 to creditors.

So in total I have paid £13754, of which £8328.30 has been given to creditors, the rest paid to my IP (Debt Free Direct)

I am in a position, thanks to my Mum, to offer a F&F figure of £25k. Together with my total contributions to creditors, I make this a total of £33,328, so an excess of £1769 over the original total my creditors would have received.

Hopefully this will be accepted by my creditors as its above the level of dividend they would have been expecting, so fingers crossed!

The only thing that gets me down is the confusion caused by my IP. I called this afternoon to discuss it with them, and after initially being told that if I was to make a F&F, it had to be for the full amount of debt owed (ie over £60k), we went round and round in circles until I finally got them to agree that I can make an offer of less than the total debt, as long as its realistic!

And now I've got to request a F&F settlement figure in writing, wait for a letter in reply, then write back with my offer!!

Not easy this IVA malarkey!!

[AndyD2]

And to make me doubt the level of help offered by my IVA, I've just called back and they said I could request a settlement figure by email!! Although she then couldn't find the email address for a while! They certainly don't instill confidence!

[MelanieGiles]

Another example of probably discussing something with an inexperienced member of staff without authority to make decisions.

Good luck with the variation - I would put that forward if I were your IP!

[Lisa2009]

Hubby had his F&F accepted through DFD.
He didnt write to them for a settlement figure, instead he wrote to them with a settlement OFFER. It just speeded the process up slightly. The offer was accepted early december.

Its really difficult to get to speak to the same person twice at DFD which is really frustrating.
We found the email address off hubbys IP through the insolvency website under the heading "find an IP"
He emailed him and was immediately emailed back asking him NOT to contact his IP as he does not take calls.
On the plus side though, we were given an email address of somebody else who we could contact at any time. She was brilliant and always answered emails within 5 minutes......even at night.

Good luck with your offer.

[Skippy]

I still find it very hard to believe that an IP 'doesn't take calls'. I can appreciate that day to day questions can be dealt with by other members of staff, but surely the IP has to be available for more serious issues? The buck stops with him/her.

[Lisa2009]

Madness isnt it? All them fees for not answering your calls. I do agree they must be busy but 5 minutes?....

[Skippy]

I really must try that with my customers - 'Sorry, I'm too busy to speak to you. It really doesn't matter that BMW, VW and Audi will be on production stop, I'm just too busy!'

[Adam Davies]

Hi
It's quite frightening when you read posts like AndyD2's,here he is trying to make a reasonable offer in a full and final and he has to deal with staff who quite simply do not understand the in's and out's of the IVA.
Customer service in large IVA providers really is,at times,quite shocking
Regards

[AndyD2]

Thanks for your replies

It is really quite worrying that the staff you end up speaking to can be so misleading sometimes. I fully appreciate that they're not all like this, but when we are talking about matters as serious as our financial affairs, it would be nice to know we are talking to people who know what they are talking about.

Mrs skint - thanks, makes me wonder why they couldn't just tell me I could make an offer - I'm on top of my finances so know all the figures involved, but there you go!

Melanie and Andy - thanks for your input. I sometimes wish I would have found this forum before I jumped in with DFD, but hindsight is such a wonderful thing!

[Lisa2009]

If you make an offer as close to the agreed dividend as you can then there is a better chance of it being accepted. As your offer will come in slightly higher you are giving yourself a much better chance.......good luck

[AndyD2]

I've just received the letter from DFD with the 100p dividend that they said they had to send me, and got quite a shock!

At no time until now have they told me there would be a £500 Meeting Arrangement Fee or a £1800 Early Settlement Fee. Oh, and plus VAT.

So that now adds just under £2500 to the amount I was looking to pay. To say I'm gutted and annoyed is an understatement.

[AndyD2]

And I've just spoken to them again to see if they would suggest a figure for settlement.

Another completely different person, who had to check with her team leader, but still came back to say that I had to 'make a reasonable offer that would be put forward to creditors' but they couldn't give me a figure

I've basically got £25,700ish left if I was to continue monthly payments, minus refund of annual supervisors fee at £900 per year (£2700 plus VAT), administration costs (seem to average about £160 a year plus VAT), which is about £3736.50.

Add on the £1856 shortfall to creditors, and the £2403 Meeting arrangement fee and Early Settlement Fee, and this takes it to £26,236.50.

So should I now see if my Mum can stretch to this amount, or an amount close to it?

[MelanieGiles]

I they can't be bothered to work out a figure for you based upon the original dividend, I suggest that you start at £20,000 which, if refused, is bound to lead them to tell you how much in the first place.

[AndyD2]

I would be quite tempted, but I just want to get this sorted as soon as possible really!

[MelanieGiles]

Go for it tomorrow and see where you get!