Debt Management and Loan Companies are the scum of the Earth. I am sure you know the sort I mean - Debt Free Direct, Ocean Finance, Picture Loans etc I Despise them. If these loan companies were honest, they would be saying something like: "Hey, are you in debt - no not just ‘in debt’, REALLY in debt. Yep? Excellent! Now, just for the record you understand, do you have an idea what an ‘interest rate’ is? Nope?, excellent - no its nothing to worry about. Now listen to me very carefully, it seems that you don’t really understand anything about money, you think borrowing money will solve all you problems DESPITE having a track record, of, shall we say, ‘not being very good at borrowing and then paying back’. No - don’t worry, you are exactly the sort of customer we want, just sign this form and we will own you, your house, your future (such as it is) and everything you are ever likely to earn for the rest of your life. Is it ethical? Yes of course it is, anyone who understands a little about how money ‘works’ can easily manage to keep up the payments and will be far better off than they were. Yes, we know that doesn’t really describe you - but that’s not really our problem now is it, do you want all your problems to go away or not? Thank you, just sign here - lovely"
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Have you ever phoned Debt Free Direct? (I know the answer to this must be no) They are not a loan company. They give impartial advice based on the individual. This may be budgeting advice, bankruptcy an IVA, free debt management, re-mortgage, consolidation loan - regardless of whether they will make any money from the advice. They don’t do loans and have helped many people sort their lives out (me included). They’re also involved in trying to change legislation to help people avoid the need to resort to further borrowing. So it saddens me a great deal to see your comments above linked to them. If it wasn’t for them I’d have gone for bankruptcy and lost my house instead of having 62% of my debt written off. (not from frivolous spending - just life kicks you in the teeth every now and then - loss of job - loss of child - loss of partner - not things I had planned for in my life)
Actually, Tracey, I was involved with a company the used to do work for Debt Free Direct, so I know rather more about them than you do. For every customer they signed up, we would have got a 4 figure commission - where do you think that came from?
You are able to organise an IVA by yourself, you know - its not that complicated. If you had done that and compared the figures you would see how much money debt consolidation companies make out of IVAs - it is NOT a small amount.
And that is my point, if someone is in real trouble, as it seems you were, a trip down the citizens advice bureau followed by a little research on IVAs would probably have saved you thousands. It is not THEM that got all those debts written off - it is the IVA coupled with the knowledge that if you go bankrupt, the companies you owe money to would get next to nothing.
What nonsense - you can’t do an IVA yourself you miss-advising cretin.
Ok, if you are going to split hairs, you can’t do anything ‘yourself’ - you need a bank involved, and probably lots of other people like ‘postmen’ and ‘biro manufacturers’ etc
However, you can employ an independent professional licensed insolvency practitioner rather than one of the devious TV advertised debt management companies.
BTW
‘miss-advising’ - wow, what a great grasp of the English language. I suspect that with this level of ‘miss-speaking’ the pointy ‘cretin’ hat clearly belongs to you. Go stand in the ‘I am an idiot and should have kept my mouth shut’ corner.