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Hi, this is going to be a very long post so I hope you don't get bored half way through! My husband and I have been on an IVA since July 2007 with Payplan. It was only after three months when they told us how much money they wanted for my husband's 50% addtional income that we looked at the original proposals and realised that Payplan had put his monthly income at over £100 less than what it was. We then spent month after month contacting Payplan to ask them to sort it out. At one point we asked if we could make an appointment to go and see them but were told they didn't do appointments but handled problems over the phone. In May this year we decided to contact our IP to ask him to help us. We did this by email and he did not email back but passed our complaint to Payplan to sort. In June this year a senior compliance officer came to our house to explain the situation to us. She told us that, yes, Payplan had made a mistake with my husband's pay but that this was in his favour. I can't see how it could be in his favour because surely if they put his income at over £100 too low then this means that they are wanting 50% of the extra, which is his normal pay.

She told me that they would do a new I&E for us and call a variation meeting in order to have our payments reduced. She also claimed that my husband owed over £2000 for the additional income but that would be added on at the end of the IVA. Shortly after her visit we received a letter stating that our complaint was declined and that we had six months in which to contact the Financial Ombudsman if we were unhappy with the decision. We also received the new I&E to sign and return. This was around the middle of June this year. We were told that new proposals would be drawn up for us to sign and return in order for them to call a variation meeting. About seven weeks ago the compliance officer telephoned me and informed me that someone was going to do our porposals the following day. These never arrived. About three weeks ago I telephoned her and she told me that someone was going to do our proposals that afternoon. We finally received them last Saturday!!!

They are proposing that our payments are reduced by over £100, which is very nice but now they want my IVA to run for a further 24 months. I only get Disability Living Allowance as I am gradually going blind and this is the reason I would prefer not to go bankrupt as my house is familiar to me and I would no doubt have to give it up in bankruptcy. They want my husband's IVA to run for a further 12 months and then another 15 months in order to pay the £2000 they claim he owes for additional income. I assume that after this we are then expected to pay the equity. How long is an IVA supposed to be for? What Payplan are wanting us do is like a second mortgage.

So, Payplan make a mistake, which they admit, but my husband is still expected to pay 50% of additional income based on their mistake and we have to pay for even longer. Yes, really good.

I hadn't really wanted to put all of this on here but I have no choice. We were hoping for private help from an expert but they appear to have changed their mind. My husband thinks we should now complain to the Financial Ombudsman. We would be really, really grateful for help and advice on what to do. Thanks.

First of all I do not understand why your IP is not dealing with this personally - and to say that they "do not do appointments" with clients is astonishing.

Turning to the issue of the error, surely if they underestimated your husband's wages initially, then you are better off because you have been allowed to keep £100 more than you would have done if the correct figure had been used. The stress this issue has caused is dreadful, and personally I think that your IP ought to take some responsibility for this. I personally think that it would be better if this issue was written off by both sides, and a new level of payments agreed with you for the future.

What do you mean by private help from an expert? Has someone on the forum promised to help you resolve this with Payplan? Paul Johns from Reviva has a good reputation for acting for clients to mediate with their Supervisors when a relationship has broken down, and you may find it beneficial to give him a call.

You could also refer this matter to the IP's own regulatory body, on grounds that he/she does not appear to be dealing with your complaint.

Thanks for the reply Melanie. I'm sorry to say that it was Paul Johns who was going to help. He asked me to send some copies of correspondence from Payplan which I did but I have not heard from him since. I emailed him last week asking if he'd had a chance to look at the the items but he has not responded to my email. Do you think we should go to the Financial Ombudsman?

Paul has worked wonders for forum members and im almost positive he will help if he possibly can.

I will e-mail Paul with details of this thread, and ask him to contact you directly.

Thanks Melanie. We're just wondering what to do. We don't know whether to sign these new proposals and send them back or not and just feel like we have no-one to turn to for help.

Wait for Paul - I can assure you that he will be in touch over the next day or so - even if it is to tell you that he cannot help.

Hi

sorry have had a couple of late nights out on the road.

I will call tomorrow to discuss progress but rest assured I have already written to Payplan with an introduction letter and an outline of the position and hope to have a conversation with the later his week.

I think that tomorrow is the first day I haven't been in court for a while so will have chance to help further with this.

speak later

I will get John Fairhurst at PayPlan to look into this for you as well. Don't worry it will be sorted out.

Hi. I'm John Fairhurst from Payplan. Thanks David for alerting me to this post. I'm very sorry jc4 that you have had a bad experience with Payplan. We tried to phone you today but got your answerphone - if you would like to send me an e-mail letting me know when it would be convenient for us to call, and on which number I'll make sure you get a call back. Your IP Ken Marland is out of the office tomorrow and so if you would like to speak to him directly some time on Friday would be best.

Hopefully we will be able to sort this out for you quickly.

Just an observation, really, but doesn't this thread illustrate perfectly how invaluable this forum is? One frustrated poster gets an immediate response from several experts and finally gets to the horse's mouth, so to speak. Well done to you all!!!

Hi Jc4

good to catch up earlier and have a chat. you are obviously having a difficult time of it at present.

so as we discussed you need to prioritise what is important to you at present as you only have a limited amount of energy to deal with this stressful situation.

Look forward to hearing how you get on with pay plan on Friday and we can chat again early next week.

kind regards

This forum is rapidly becoming THE place for IVA clients to seek not just advice but to actually get through to the people who can sort things out for them - the IPs. If there is a need for this sort of support, then this is definately the place to find it.

Hi, just to say thanks to everyone who replied to my post. We don't know what will happen to us now but our IP is telephoning us on Friday morning to have a chat so I'll let you know what happens. Once again, thanks.