Face-to-face IVA meetings should stay
Phillip Allen, Licensed Insolvency Practitioner at Debt Lifeboat
Insolvency Practitioners are no longer obliged to meet the person entering into an IVA, following a recent update to the Statement of Insolvency Practice (SIP). Though the change is designed to make it easier for customers to secure IVAs, the real beneficiaries will in fact be the big IVA factories, which can shave costs and increase profits by neglecting to provide face-to-face meetings with their clients.
At Debt Lifeboat, we will continue to meet our customer in person and believe it to be a key element in a successful IVA. There are three main reasons for this: First, it’s an effective way of establishing that an IVA is the right option for our client. Second, we believe creditors see us as a more credible nominee if we have had personal interactions with the customer we are representing. And third, establishing a personal relationship is an important factor in ensuring our clients “stick with the programme”, by getting to the end of their IVA and becoming debt-free.
The SIP wording was never particularly stringent on this point. It originally stated that the Licensed Insolvency Practitioners “should” interview the debtor unless not practically possible. This enabled some providers to distinguish between “must” and “should” and ignore the direction. But many, including myself, abided by best-practice and insisted in interviewing the debtor.
The new wording of the SIP advises that: “On initial contact with the debtor, the member (Licensed Insolvency Practitioner), should offer to meet personally, or arrange for a suitably experienced member of his staff to meet the debtor. If the debtor declines the offer …the initial interview may be conducted on the telephon.”
This was exactly what the big IVA companies were hoping for. After all, they argued, if people can run up massive debts without meeting anybody face-to-face, why not solve their debt problems without a meeting?
At Debt Lifeboat, meeting our customers is part and parcel of treating our clients as people, not just a reference number. I’m certain it’s played a role in my team’s excellent track record of successful IVAs.
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