Wed 4th Jun, 2008
Rogue debt advisors misleading customers
It has been revealed that a rogue debt advisor company, unregulated by any watchdog, has begun to mail out leaflets to people in financial difficulty advising them to default on their loans. The company then offers to step in and help them to become bankrupt.
The company which is called the IVA Council (IVAC) is claiming that thousands of people in debt are each year being poorly advised on how to clear their debt. The IVAC also claims that thousand of indebted customers are being herded into formal debt agreements called Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVA) by creditors.
The company argues that these people should not end up living in poverty desperately trying to clear their debts but instead opt for bankruptcy. The debts could be on mortgages, personal loans, credit cards or utility bills, but the advice is the same each time: default.
The IVAC has mailed thousands of customers of debt advice services across the whole banking sector. The IVAC managed to get these details by buying them off the government-backed agency the Insolvency Service. This has prompted calls for the database to be made less readily available to the public.
Some recipients of these letters from the IVAC have complained that some sensitive information is clearly available in the display in the letter envelope.
IVAC has also set up a website that appears to be an almost exact copy of the Insolvency Service’s website. The company is also allegedly using an old logo of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) despite the fact that the DTI changed its name to the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform last year.
The truth is that no one can escape their responsibilities and IVAs and bankruptcy are very serious measures that impact upon future credit for many years. They rarely mean that debts can be avoided. Instead the debtor is expected to repay loans and bills at an agreed rate, whilst living on the very same reduced income that this rogue company claims to help avoid.