Somebody should read your whole file. I do, and it costs you nothing.
Not just your copy of the paperwork. The insolvency practitioner's file, the lender's file, and every call recording from all three — read against each other.
Then I tell you in plain English what your file actually shows. That review is free. If it shows your arrangement is the right one for you, I will say so and that is the end of it — nothing to pay and nobody will ring you again.
The call is free. 0800 707 4296.
The review is free, however long the file takes to read.
The report is free, whatever it finds.
If there is work to be done afterwards, the fee is agreed with you first, it is less than you are paying into your arrangement now, and it does not start until that payment has stopped.
If I do not find you a quicker and cheaper option, you get your money back.
What the figures actually show
Insolvency Service data, IVAs terminated between September 2021 and September 2023.
60% | found to have been poorly taken on |
2 years | before a single penny reached a creditor |
61% | of everything paid on a completed IVA taken in fees |
22p | in the pound — what creditors actually received |
£100 | the median monthly contribution |
£11,200 | the median debt in an IVA |
Six out of ten. That is not a run of bad luck.
The forensic review — free
Most people only ever see their own half of the paperwork: the proposal they signed and the letters that followed. There is a good deal more than that in existence. There is a file at the insolvency practice — the fact-find, the income and expenditure the firm built, the internal notes, the modifications, and the recording of the call on which you agreed to all of it. There is a file at every lender.
I request the lot, under a Limited Power of Attorney you sign, and read it against itself. Where the recording and the proposal say different things, that shows up. Where the budget was built below the national Standard Financial Statement guidelines — which manufactures a surplus you never had — that shows up. Where a Debt Relief Order was never assessed, that shows up too.
You get a written report addressed to you, in plain English, setting out what your file shows, what the alternatives were at the time, and what can be done about it now. There is no charge for it.
Mis-sold IVAs
An IVA is a formal insolvency procedure with a five or six year tail on it. It should be sold to somebody it suits. The recurring findings are not subtle:
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A Debt Relief Order never assessed at all, or closed off on a surplus margin of £25 against the ceiling — when a Debt Relief Order is free and clears the debt in twelve months
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An income and expenditure statement built below the national guidelines, producing a contribution the client was never going to sustain
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Fees taking the larger share of everything paid, on a debt small enough to have been dealt with another way entirely
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A contribution raised by modification after the client agreed to it, with the estimated outcome never rebuilt
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A proposal signed in under three minutes
These are findings from real files. Where a matter calls for regulated legal action, that action is taken by instructed solicitors.
Paid to date
If an arrangement is not going to run its course, there is a route that closes it on the money already paid. The supervisor puts a variation to the creditors asking them to accept what has been received to date in full and final settlement, and the arrangement completes. No further contributions. A completion certificate at the end of it, rather than a termination.
It is not offered to people. It has to be asked for, argued for, and supported with figures showing why the creditors do no better by refusing. That is what the review is for.
Irresponsible lending
The same file that shows how the arrangement was sold usually shows how the debt was built. Lending advanced without a proper affordability check. A second loan marketed to somebody already in difficulty. A limit increased on an account that was never being repaid.
Where the lender's own disclosure shows it, there is a complaint to be made — to the lender first and the Financial Ombudsman Service after that — and interest and charges to be recovered.
Three steps, and the first two are free
A call
Twenty minutes, free, on an 0800 number. I ask questions and write down the answers. Nothing is decided on that call and nothing is sold on it.
The file
I request everything from the insolvency practice and from each lender. It takes weeks rather than days, and it happens whether or not they are pleased about it.
The report
Free, written to you, pitched at the level of detail you want, with the options set out and the arithmetic behind each one.
You are not expected to write the letters, chase anybody, or argue with the practice. You provide the information and you make the decision. The reading and the correspondence are mine.
What it costs to find out where you stand: nothing
The call, the review and the report are free. If the report says stay where you are, that is the end of it and no fee arises at all.
If there is work to be done, the fee is discussed and agreed with you before anything begins, and it is spread across nine months. It is less than you are paying into your arrangement now, and it does not start until that payment has stopped.
If I do not find you a quicker and cheaper option, you get your money back.
You are not asked to take that on trust. It is written into the agreement.
There is no list of people I turn away
Not a homeowner. Not equity in the property. Not a car on hire purchase. Not your age, not benefits income, not the size of the debt. None of it closes the door.
Some routes are shut today and open later — a hire purchase agreement runs out, a vehicle drops below the limit, a term ends, an income moves, a child leaves home. Where that is the position I say so, I hold the file, and I act on the day it changes. You are not sent away with a leaflet.
Who I am
I am Roger Wallis. I have spent nearly forty years in the UK debt and insolvency industry, from 1983 onwards, on the inside of it. I know how these arrangements are sold because I have watched it done.
I wrote Insolvency: The Truth and Bailiffs: The Truth, and I present the podcast Debt: The Truth.
Speak For You Ltd is mine. One director. Not funded by creditors.
Ask for your free review
If you are in an arrangement you do not fully understand, or you have wondered whether it was ever right for you, ring and ask. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Free to call: 0800 707 4296 · admin@speakforyou.co.uk
Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. Every enquiry answered within 24 hours.