In 2014 the FCA introduced new regulations over the debt management sector. As an IVA specialist with over 10 years\u2019 experience I was starting to see more and more people receiving very poor standards of debt advice. Many were entering into inappropriate IVAs (which they were likely to fail) when there were better solutions available, but these weren\u2019t explained to them properly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new regulations meant that commercial marketing companies switched their attention from mainstream debt to the more lucrative IVA market instead. They\u2019d often pay a large amount for those leads (hence why you\u2019d see adverts everywhere) and would highly incentivise staff to convert these leads into IVAs when there may have been a better option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If an IVA isn\u2019t the right solution for a customer, whether they can\u2019t meet their repayments or they didn\u2019t want to be in it anyway, it\u2019s likely they\u2019ll fail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To help address this and provide better protection for clients we decided to create an organisation where we focused on the outcome for clients, rather than the income we\u2019d get from an IVA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At IVA.org we try to ensure that every IVA we put forward is the most appropriate solution for that client, we do this by focussing on what\u2019s in the client\u2019s best interests rather than what\u2019s in the financial interests of IVAorg CIC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our team take as much time as they need to talk to you about your current debt, lifestyle and, most importantly, what you want to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We don\u2019t rely on other organisations to supply us leads, nor do we pressurise any of our staff to convert IVAs. It\u2019s up to our clients to decide on their preferred solution \u2013 our role is to provide them with the information they need to make an informed decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To further strengthen this we introduced our unique pledge: \u2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n
should your IVA fail to complete successfully through no fault of your own, we pledge that the fees you have paid will be used to reduce your debt to the maximum effect, guaranteeing to leave you no worse off. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, our industry is still plagued by debt companies focused on profit rather than helping. We see hugely exaggerated claims about the benefits of entering an IVA, and there are several dominant companies with huge budgets sucking in customers with their conveyor belt style IVA system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also some really creative messages from organisations out there claiming to be \u2018government backed\u2019 or other wild statements. Again, this is hugely misleading for customers and we\u2019re often told before they\u2019ve had a chance to take a breath they\u2019re being asked to sign various agreements and paperwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year there were 88,000 IVAs issued, and 16 companies controlled 90% of these in the UK. Despite the high profits these organisations make their under-resourced teams maintain poor communication with clients and we receive calls daily from people not knowing who their IVA provider is, or how to contact them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the last five years, the combination of bad advice and lack of resources has meant that 1 in 3 IVAs will fail. If this happens, you\u2019ll still have your debt AND you\u2019ve paid thousands in IVA fees as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to our ethos backed by our pledge we\u2019re proud that our failure rate sits at 1%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately debt isn\u2019t going anywhere, and whilst we can\u2019t reduce bills or directly help with the cost of living crisis, we can continue to live by our ethos of helping you take control of your debt AND make well informed choices. Whether that\u2019s with iva.org or someone else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the moment we\u2019re still seeing a lot of people dealing with the financial fallout from Covid, as well as sole traders and entrepreneurs being particularly affected as they try and get their trading back to pre pandemic levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Surges in energy costs, as well as increases in food and utility bills have become the tipping point for many. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As someone who spends their days (and years) advising people from all walks of life on their finances there\u2019s one clear simple piece of advice I\u2019d give to anyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A problem shared is a problem halved and believe me, there\u2019s always a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ignoring a debt problem in the hope it will just go away is the worst thing that you can do because debt tends to grow when it\u2019s ignored, and creditors can get frustrated when communications break down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best place to seek impartial support and advice is from a Not-for-Profit organisation like IVAorg CIC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have the tools and experience to carefully evaluate your options and help you determine what actions you can take to regain control over your debts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if you\u2019re worrying over a debt problem, our team are waiting to talk to you, either through our online chat or our dedicated phone line, available evenings and weekends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 0800 856 8569<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If an IVA isn\u2019t the right solution for a customer, whether they can\u2019t meet their repayments or they didn\u2019t want to be in it anyway, it\u2019s likely they\u2019ll fail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,45,47,1,24,19],"tags":[32,49,11,12,16],"ppma_author":[78],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-us","category-cost-of-living","category-debt-awareness-week","category-general","category-in-an-iva","category-iva","tag-cost-of-living","tag-debt-awareness-week","tag-individual-voluntary-arrangement","tag-iva","tag-not-for-profit"],"aioseo_notices":[],"authors":[{"term_id":78,"user_id":11,"is_guest":0,"slug":"iain-wrenshall","display_name":"Iain Wrenshall","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5da630bf4c571f09624ec1c965da64d5b6ec158173234a52f41b1d5469fbc39a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions\/298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iva.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The current landscape<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Debt isn\u2019t going away<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Pick up the phone and ask for help.<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n