Creditfix - Taken over my IVA

[UpToMyNeckInIt]

Hi All,

I received an email tonight from ‘Creditfix’ who have acquired the IVA portfolio of my existing IVA Company (Mitchell Farrar).

Got a few concerns:

1). CF are seeking agreement to increase Supervisor Fees to 23% of realisations (up from 15% with Mitchell Farrar).

Whilst I understand that this does not directly affect my existing payments, it will surely mean that I will have to attempt to re-mortgage for more come month 54; and that my creditors will ultimately receive less in the event of potential PPI/other windfalls/income increases etc…

The hubris of the wording in the covering email is irritating: It very much presumes that I will grant my ‘agreement and understanding’ to this variation by default and without question. They give no guidance on what to do if a customer does not grant consent.

Therefore, can I refuse this variation?

I understand that some members of this forum attempted to refuse a similar clause en masse when CF took over other firms. Did that work? If so, can anyone point me in the direction of a useful letter template and the procedure to follow?

I need to get back to them ASAP, as CF state that if they get no reply by 8/4/16, they will ‘assume’ that I agree to this (and presumably any other) IVA variation.

2). Also, do CF attempt to sneak in other detrimental changes during the IVA take-over/variation process?

3). I am concerned primarily in relation to CF potentially attempting to ‘update’ the equity release clause (Ie: to introduce wording which would include requiring me attempting a ‘secured loan’ application, rather than just attempting ‘re-mortgage’ come Month 54 – as per my existing standard terms? Anyone experienced this? Anyone successfully fought it off?

Finally, how have others found CF as a firm generally?

Thanks in anticipation for any advice in helping me deal with this.

[luluj]

I personally wasn't involved in the last CF take over but do recall a number of forum members refusing to agree the increase of fee's. There hasn't been I believe any recent updates on the back of this on the forum.
If it were me I would maybe write to CF and ask them to explain in laymans terms what not agreeing to the increase in fee's would mean.
Your creditors agreed your iva based on the original proposal by your original IP therefore I personally do not think they should be able to cause you any undue increase in payments over the term of your iva.
I would certainly hold out until the bitter end and be challenging this.

[recovering]

I am now with Creditfix they tried to increase our fees... most of us refused and they accepted it. (as far as we know) They have also stuck to our original T&C's when issues arise. They are rubbish at communication and a lot of anxiety has been caused by mass letters and incorrect answers to queries (normally the first line of customer service) However so far they have backed down on anything I have queried and the other day another forum member had the secured loan mentioned, when he pointed out this was not in his T&C's they agreed! they do manage to complete really quickly too!
Just email them and say you wish to continue with you current T&C'S
If you manage to get the name of your caseworker that will help. Thye did add a charge onto my annual review for a variation meeting ( I assume this was the increase in charges they wanted) when I pointed out I never agreed with this it was taken off.

[Shining]

I know there are a fair few members who have been in a similar position so hang in there and I'm sure they'll be along to give you their experience as recovering very kindly has.

[harrysmummy78]

Email them and simply decline their new T&C's and advise you are happy with your existing contract and ask them to acknowledge this.
I have been happy with CF although they do cause a lot of unnecessary anxiety from time to time especially with letters sent in error and the way they word letters/emails however when challenged they apologise and rectify things.
I have completed 2 reviews now with them and have found you need to be proactive and ask them to conduct your review and get all relevant info sent to them on time and they will do it. Our income also increased quite a bit this year they were very fair with us and increased our allowances so there wasn't the high hike in monthly payments I expected. All in all they have been fine up to now you just don't have the same kind of contact as I had with my previous IVA provider.

[ridingthestorm]

Good old CF trying to take over the world !

When I and many others were scooped up from PJG they tried it on with me as well ! I emailed CF and told them very bluntly "NO" my IVA was setup with PJG and it was a legally binding agreement and so they couldn't change my T&Cs .... (Not actually sure if that was true )

I received a snail mail letter confirming no changes would be made to my T&Cs.....

I have no dealing with them apart from my annual reviews and my case worker is actually pretty good. (I must be lucky with her ! )

Tho I don't trust them nor like them...

[UpToMyNeckInIt]

Thank you all for your feedback.

All very helpful and reassuring, especially the comment on ‘review time’ where CF bolstered allowances to counteract increase in income, when they could just as easily have increased the IVA repayments. Sounds like the transfer may not be as bad as I first thought.

Actually, I received a surprisingly pleasant courtesy call on Saturday from one of CF's reps. I made my concerns known over the requested fee increases, and the rep. reassured me that I would not be pressured/forced into accepting this change. I'll wait and see of course (should be getting the actual paperwork in the next day or two), but it sounds promising.

My old company's customer service was next to nothing, so if CF's is even slightly better, that's fine. Actually, I was quite pleased to note that Mon-Thur. CF's phone lines are open until 8pm, whereas my old firm was strictly Mon-Fri, 9-5.

I got the impression that CF have brought all of my old company's 4,500 IVA cases, and that CF merely wanted to keep them ticking along nicely, keeping both the customer and creditors happy.

To me that suggests CF want to intervene as little as possible, let the IVA complete, not ruffle any feathers on either side and make a little bit of profit in the process - fair enough.

This figures: After all, any customer (or creditor) causing hassle is presumably going to take up time and therefore money. Indeed, I've read a few other 'Credit Fix' posts on this forum, and get the impression that in many of those cases, when challenged over proposed new terms etc, CF seem to back down, rather than risk a dispute.

In summary, I will write to CF advising that I will decline their request for the additional realisation percentage, and go from there.

[recovering]

My reviews although the first was months late and the second I had to ask for, have been painless. My IVA payment is a bit averaged as my wages fluctuate so much. The forms are so different I found it confusing so I just used my old allowances and the guideline figures Michael Peoples kindly emailed me. My payments have stayed the same...just the equity release part to face in a few months now...........I hope your experience is painless!

[Shining]

Hopefully the remainder of your IVA runs smoothly with CF administering this.

[Seanj67]

After the initial stress of moving to CF from PJG I have found my experience to be painless. I've always been proactive and send over documents annually without being asked. This yea I didn't hear anything so called them. I got someone very helpful who said that all was well and I was now in my final year and no payment increase. They apologised and said I should have had a letter. The other thing I noticed was that they didn't seem interested in any bonuses I got even though they went beyond the threshold. PJG insisted monies owed were paid within 14 days whereas CF just said they'd look at it at review time.

I know they caused some issues back when they took over, but I have to say my experience so far has been good.

[kallis3]

That's really good news - so glad everything has been painless for you.

[thisusernameistaken]

You have to be firm with CF. I was one of the PJGers who got flogged on and CF did try it on on a number of occasions.

I think it's entirely wrong that they state that 'no response' will be deemed to be acceptance of terms/changes and I'm not sure it would stand up legally.

CF are NOT allowed to request any variation - they work for you administering YOUR IVA - it's not for them to amend anything without explicit permission from the debtor imo.

Good luck with the rest of your IVA, it will pass quickly I'm sure.

[linrog]

tell them to do one you tell them you have your terms and conditions and you do not want to change

[AJB]

Hi, I recently went through the old equity release with CF, and after a few weeks worry they were trying to send me down the secured loan route due to a badly written standard letter, they just accepted my original PJG proposal and I've now extended for another 12 months. Tbh CF have been ok they just need to sort out there communication skills of lack there of! Here's a link to my post regarding this
http://www.iva.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=75862

[Lisa Thomas]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by thisusernameistaken

You have to be firm with CF. I was one of the PJGers who got flogged on and CF did try it on on a number of occasions.

I think it's entirely wrong that they state that 'no response' will be deemed to be acceptance of terms/changes and I'm not sure it would stand up legally.

CF are NOT allowed to request any variation - they work for you administering YOUR IVA - it's not for them to amend anything without explicit permission from the debtor imo.

Good luck with the rest of your IVA, it will pass quickly I'm sure.

That's not quite correct, we don't work for the debtor we Supervise to ensure the debtor sticks to the terms of the proposals on behalf of the creditors.