In the last few years a whole new industry of IVA factories have grown up offering what is called ‘free’ debt advice. Hard selling commercial companies are setting out to ensnare people into five year IVAs, many of which turn out to be painful and extended bankruptcies. This advice is far from free. Typically the companies concerned are charging around £6000 per case in fees. This money comes from the money that is paid into IVAs by debtors. The companies claim that this is technically the creditors’ money but this is just a clever play on semantics. In reality, the fees come out of the pockets of the debtors.

 

A recent BBC 4 documentary on Radio 4 recently exposed the case of a disabled lady who had been paying half her disability benefits into an IVA. She was reduced to staying in her bed all day to keep warm because she could not afford to heat her home. When she received a statement about her IVA after the first year she discovered that all her money had gone in fees to the debt management company involved and that most of her following year’s payments would be going the same way. After contacting the BBC with her story she was advised to go into bankruptcy and is now in receipt of all her disability benefits. This case highlights the scandalous nature of an industry that plays on peoples fears.

At least one third of IVAs fail and this figure is probably higher. Even a successfully completed IVA is generally more severe than a bankruptcy, as most bankruptcies are discharged within a year and the requirement to make a contribution from earnings only last for five years.

I have started a campaign writing letters to newspapers warning people about these IVA scams but this has now turned into a multi-million pound industry with huge amounts of money being spent on advertising to catch the naive and the vulnerable. Nonetheless, we will make our point.

Harsh world of money 

This relatively new IVA industry proves yet again the harshness of the world of money. Anything to do with the making of money invariably attracts the sharks.  This is a hard fact of life.