25.03.22

At the end of a phonecall with one of my clients, she asks if she can put her friend on. Let's call her Justine. Justine's not working, is on disability, and has some money problems - we work out it's about £6,000 of debt, mostly made up of Council Tax, water, and credit cards.

This is a pretty verbatim transcript.

__

Client: I spoke to some insolvency organisation but I'm confused.

Adviser: Hmm. Did they talk about your income and your spending?

Client: Yeah. They're having some sort of meeting this week. I don't really understand it.

Adviser: Did that budget say you've got money left over?

Client: Yeah, about £65.

Adviser: Does that sound right to you?

Client: No, they sort of made it say that.

Adviser: Right. This is probably what's called an IVA - you'll probably be expected to make that payment for five years. I don't know for definite until we've talked a bit more, but it's very likely you can get what's called a Debt Relief Order.

Client: Oh yeah, I had one of those. They said I couldn't have one now.

Adviser: When did you have it?

Client: 2013.

Adviser: Well, that doesn't sound right - it's been more than six years, that's what matters. If you are eligible, it's a one-off £90 fee, and we can possibly get a charity to pay that.

Client: That'd be so much better.

Adviser: Why don't you come in for an appointment and we can talk more about it. You can bring in any letters you've got - and if you're eligible and you decide a Debt Relief Order's better for you, we can help you set that up.

Client: That'd be great. You make a lot more sense than they did.


#savedebtadvice #fuckIVAcompanies

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