You might have gained a rather too optimistic view of what an IVA can do for you, depending on which adverts you've seen. Last November Debt Free Direct, the UK's leading IVA provider, complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about several IVA companies falsely claiming they could write off up to 75% of a persons debt. The ASA found Debt Free Directs claims to be true and told IVA companies to only make claims they can substantiate. January 2007 saw some IVA companies read the 'riot act' by The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) when they found a number of IVA companies had fallen foul of false advertising laws and issued severe warnings against them.

It sounded to good to be true... and it was!

The breach of advertising standards was so that some IVA companies were claiming that with their IVA a person could “write off 90%” of their total debt. This, as any person with an ounce of common sense would know, sounds a little strange and indeed it is a little strange, ultimately because it's a lie! Think about it, how many major credit cards do you know who are going to willingly just write off 90% of your debt, that's just silly isn't it?

An IVA company CAN help you write off some of your debt, but realistically speaking, it's more likely your creditors will accept 60%. These “write off 90%” advertisements were clearly unrealistic/utter twoddle and in breach of advertising laws by completely misleading the consumer. The IVA companies responsible for such over the top claims were given a strict deadline to remove said “lies” or face sanctions.

Bad Press?

This is not the only bad press to be aimed at the IVA companies recently, as within the same report from the OFT there was some concern about the fact that these so called IVA specialists don't actually have the qualifications to undertake an IVA themselves. Generally called IVA 'introducers', they act not unlike recruitment agencies, the middle man, superfluous, you don't really want to have to deal with these people, nor in-fact need too at all!

IVA 'introducers' take a fee for connecting you to the correct person who can then start to sort out your IVA, namely an Insolvency Practitioner (IP). Avoid this situation by simply going straight to the IP via reputable companies and rid yourself of any unnecessary incurring fees. A basic rule of thumb for those who can't tell the IVA wheat from the IVA chaff: A reputable IVA company will NEVER ask for fees up front, if they are asking for money from you, leave!

It's sadly ironic that these people offer to help sort out your debts by taking more of your cash, I wouldn't stand for it and neither should you!