IVA Confusion

[kghuelin]

Hi,
I recently used the tips on this site to recover £800 in bank charges from Alliance and Leicester and to have my record with Credit agencies cleared. Big thumbs up.
Now, as part of my ongoing effort to sort out my finances, i recently looked into a loan to consolidate my Credit Card debts of over £15k.
My cedit rating with Experian is good and i have passed all the standard criteria of living in the same place for 3 years etc but for some reason, not clear to me, i was rejected by Northern Rock for my loan application. Admittedly they checked my application via Equifax, though i would have thought there should be no diffrence.
As a follow up, after contacting MoneySupermarket, i got put through to a group called GE Capital who have been calling me to help sort out the best loan. They tried to push me towards a loan that was not for the amount i required and had an excessive interest rate, over 10%.
I pointed out to them that i am not desperate for a loan etc but to me it seems the best option to ensure i clear my debts by turning them into a loan rather than keeping paying into the credit cards and then taking the money out of my credit card again as it is easy to access it.
After admitting that none of their lenders was suitable, GE Capital are now trying to pass me onto a IVA debt company. Admittedly, what they claim of having my debts frozen and potentially reduced as part of the IVA, providing they are over 15k, is appealing. However, i don't want to do this if it will mess up my credit rating after i have taken steps to improve it. What are IVAs all about and is it worth applying for one even if techincally i could have all my debts cleared in 5 years? What are the hang ups of IVAs or should i just avoid the whole thing?

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Thanks,
Keven

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

	Credit Report Click link to open in new window.

[phatram]

Try here
MoneySavingExpert.com ad-free, free to use, Consumer Revenge!

[bathgatebuyer]

I had a similar experience with moneysupermarket earlier today and ended up being offered something entirely unsuitable, i.e. 15 yr debt consolidation with lenders I have never even heard of. It came with a booklet from FISA which seems to be an organisation with only 10 or so members.

Not a site I will dare look at again.