My wife is due our first child in 4 weeks time [8D]
we are with Grant Thornton 4 years she spoke to our there customer services back at 19 weeks, who told us it was going to be fine and we would get a break while she was off, all we had to do was send the MatB in just before she left, my Wife has been trying to speak to them for a week she called back today to be told the gentleman we spoke to had left and the information we had been given was wrong.
We have now been told this information was not correct and we have to get her empoloyer to write a letter and also it may take a month or so to approve and then may not be still approved (this should have been done at 20 weeks!!)
I am really worried as with her on Mat Leave we wont be able to afford to live and after being told the IVA would be suspended I was hoping to hear if anyone had experience or advice
Congratulations on the imminent birth of your first child - how exciting!
Moving on to your IVA - you need to speak with your IP directly asap as a matter of urgency - you should not have been left like this regardless of whether someone has left or not. GT need to address this asap to ensure you are not left struggling and it should not take that long to get a payment break. Hopefully her employer can get a letter acrocc asasp - (a scanned emailed copy should be enough to speed things up).
Please let us know how you get on - havgin your first child will be stressful enough without this extra worry.
Regards, Tina Shortland, Debt Advisory Manager for Melanie Giles at Debt Advice TV.
If you’re looking for effective debt related information, articles and news, then go now to our on-line advice service at www.debtadvicetv.com
If you’re ready to ask us for specific advice or help, then get in touch at www.call-me.debtadvicetv.com so you can start to free yourself from the stress and anxiety of overwhelming debt.
Insist that you speak with the IP directly, or a Senior Manager who can actually make decisions about what is really necessary. It is clear that a reassessement of your income and expenditure now needs to happen, and this ought to be a fairly straightforward process.
We have tried but oddly the customer service team have tried to tell us we can only deal with them.
I think the thing that worries myself and my wife is that from 19 weeks we have been quite relaxed about the fact we would get the Mat break and now our stress levels have risen and with 4 weeks to go not what we needed[:(]
Carl do not be dissuaded by the customer service team - you have a right to speak with your IP directly, push until you do. Also hopefully someone from GT will follow this up on here.
Regards, Tina Shortland, Debt Advisory Manager for Melanie Giles at Debt Advice TV.
If you’re looking for effective debt related information, articles and news, then go now to our on-line advice service at www.debtadvicetv.com
If you’re ready to ask us for specific advice or help, then get in touch at www.call-me.debtadvicetv.com so you can start to free yourself from the stress and anxiety of overwhelming debt.
If you are denied access to being able to speak with your IP, I suggest that you remind the Customer Services Team that you will lodge a complaint with the regualatory body if this opportunity is not made available to you. IPs take IVA appointments personally, and therefore have a personal responsibiility to their clients which needs to be respected.
I hope you get this resolved we were also in the same situation during our IVA.
One thing I would put to you and in your circumstance it may not benefit you but it did for us greatly. It's tricky but I knew my the company was not acting in my best interest, and we ecentually went down a totally different avenue, I'll try to run you through it as best I can.
We were paying a regular payment of just over £500. Now my IP wanted us to take a year payment holiday, and obviously instead of the IVA finishing in 2014 it would be ending in 2015.
This didn't sit right with us as they were clearly pushing us to take the holiday so that when I returned to work we'd go straight back to paying the £500+ payment.
I did my figures and worked out an average wage throughout my ML, by doing this it still came out we could make a payment and although it would take the dividend down it still was an acceptable one.
I pushed for a meeting for my creditors to accept the £166 monthly payment for the 10 months I'd be off work. Which if accepted would mean the end date of my IVA would stay as it was.
The proposal was accepted by all concerned and it was a lot better for us. Like I say I'm not saying it will be right for you but as I've stated before, don't let your IP control what you do blindly if you think there not acting in your best interest question them.
Good luck I hope all goes well with both the IVA and your new arrival.
Carlm586 - Please contact me via email at ivacustomerservices@uk.gt.com with only IVA Forum in the subject line, I will ensure your case is reviewed immediately - there are options whilst on maternity so don't panic.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Kind Regards
Karol
