I never spoke to my creditors at all. I wrote to them that was all.
You can refuse to answer the security questions, they can't continue with the call if you do that.
Some people find that by speaking to the creditors they can limit the calls.
Be warned that the call centres can be bullies and will try anything to get money from you. Ignore the threats, they're meaningless.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
I found the calls annoying rather than frightening as I knew I was protected. I told them all I was preparing an iva and they wouldn't get a penny from me until it was in place. The lying and bullying is shameless but do not part with your cash. It can be fun to turn into a perv (I'm naked, what are you wearing?) or even better tell them you'd love to make a payment if only you could remember your birthday/ postcode/ mothers maiden name. Sometimes I said I'd make a full and final payment of £5 but unfortunately no one fell for it! It's not big and it's not clever, but it did make a stressful situation funny!
If you are going to contact a couple of insolvency practitioners, they will need to know a little about your current financial situation, such as the level of your debts, the amount that you feel able to offer to repay creditors on a monthly basis and details of any assets that you own and their values.
Usually, this will lead to a fairly in depth discussion about the background to your case, but don't forget that we are here to help you rather than judge you - and I am sure that you fill feel much better once you have shared the problems with someone else and then you will feel more in control and proud to be able to do something positive about your current position.
Most of my clients say they feel tons better after the first phone call or meeting.
As Melanie says, most of her clients (I am one of them) feel a lot better after the first phone call.
I spoke to Tina at Melanie's office. She was fantastic and was really reassuring, understanding and non-judgemental.
Some creditor seem to phone several times a day, whilst other just send a letter once a month. It's up to yourself how to deal with them.
I set my mobile to "reject" any of the persistent callers, so my phone didn't even ring - it just registered a missed call.
It makes you feel a bit guilty ignoring them, but if you ever talk to them they try their hardest to make you pay something. Instead of paying token payments, I used the money to save up a bit of a contingency whilst my proposal was being drafted.
regards
st75
Started lump sum IVA in Aug 2010 - received certificate of completion April 2011, thanks to Melanie & team
I to am with Melanie and her team. People deal with the calls in different ways. I contacted Melanie and her team and sorted all the paperwork etc. and basically didn't want my wife hassled with the phone calls so I made a quick call to BT, explained we were having unwanted marketing calls and as a result had the number changed. I then went through my mobile contact list and changed all the contact ringtones to the same one and then set the default one to a dog bark. When the dog barked I didn't answer. I sent out the standard letters to all my creditors and only when I had a date for the creditors meeting did I start answering the calls. I didn't see the point of talking to them before then as the conversation I know would have gone down the line of 'what if you don't get the IVA and can you make a payment' You have to treat all your creditors the same regarding payments and that can be a pain working out percentages etc. In the end we didn't make any payments from the time we made the first call right through to the IVA being accepted.
Good Luck for the future, you're already one step closer by admitting there's a problem and whatever your fears, trust me, we've all been there! Chin up, regardless of the level of debt there's always a solution. [:D]