Will an IVA Stop Creditor Phone Calls

Whether or not you like communicating with your creditors, this communication is key to solving any debt problems that you may have. Creditors will vary their tactics, depending on how much you owe them.

If you are in difficulties with more than one creditor then you may have been advised to consider an individual voluntary agreement. If you have one of these agreements, more commonly known as IVAs and your creditors contact you by telephone then you will need to give them the name and address of the person who is dealing with your agreement.

You should get them to speak to the person who is dealing with your accounts and tell them that you have been advised not to make them any payment in the meantime. If it is some other debt management programme that you are undertaking then again, you should give the caller any details and explain that you have been advised to refrain from making payment while they deal with things.

If you don't want to deal with the call, or feel that it is getting out of hand then you should tell them that now is not a good time and they should call you back when it is more convenient. You should seek help with your debt problems as soon as you realise that you have a problem. There are a number of agencies who will give you iva debt advice for free and will help you to negotiate payment with your creditors. Your debt counsellor may offer to contact your creditors on your behalf to see if they will stop the interest on your debt or at least lower it to give you a chance to catch up on things. While the court has ruled that credit card companies should be open to these requests, that is no guarantee that they will be.

The first thing that a debt advisor will ask you to do is to give a complete financial statement, that is, a complete breakdown of your income and your outgoings. They will then be more able to help you with your problems and will have the relevant information to hand if and when they contact your creditors.

Although you can ask creditors to stop calling because you are in the process of setting up an individual voluntary agreement, there is no guarantee that they will. You could try sending them a cease and desist letter and telling them that in future you will only deal with them in writing. If they continue to call you several times a day then this is harassment and you should tell them that unless they stop you are going to take legal action.