IVA Advice Forum warning on unsolicited IVA text messages

A media report this weekend suggests that as many as half of us receive regular unsolicited text messages from debt advice companies, claims companies, and payday lenders. This figure seems justified to us, half of the IVA Advice Forum debt advisers themselves receive these messages despite never having requested that such companies contact us.

In this IVA Advice Forum article we look into why this subject has hit the news, whether such text messages carry a danger for the recipients, and what types of advice that those worried about debt should seek out.

The transition to debt texts becoming a news story is thanks largely to a CCCS Twitter campaign. Their followers have been asked to report back on the number and types of text messages that they are receiving. The results have been astonishing. One person received nearly 100 offers of debt advice and loans on Christmas Day alone. The IVA Advice Forum team knew there was a problem but had no idea that people were being so affected that they felt their only choice was to get a new mobile phone number.

In the view of IVA Advice Forum the root of this situation seems to be a widespread contempt for data protection laws. The office of the Information Commissioner is responsible in this area and has expressed concern. The belief is that there is a mixture of malpractice by otherwise legitimate debt advice providers, and downright criminal activity which may be rooted in organised crime. With this in mind they have been making investigations into who is involved and are promising enforcement action soon.

At the IVA Advice Forum we are only too aware that the New Year has sharply focussed many peoples’ minds on the fact that their debt repayments have become unsustainable. Our IVA advice forum itself sometimes attracts questions from people who are sceptical about such texts that they have received or the advice they got after getting in touch with them. If you receive a text of this type what should you do and what should you avoid doing?

Firstly, don’t reply to them. If you do they know there is a real person at your phone number. The value of your details increases and you are likely to get more texts. Secondly, beware the fact that the people sending you the text might be behaving unlawfully. IVA Advice Forum warns you to steer clear of any company that might breach laws or ethics to try to obtain your business.

No matter how worried you are about debt it’s worth seeking out the very best help available rather than reaching out to the first hand that offers you help. An IVA might be a good option for you, but as you’ll read in our IVA advice forum, it’s one of many options and will not be the best way forwards for a great many people.

You may wish to visit our IVA advice forum and read what other people have asked about IVA services and the other possible options. The IVA Advice Forum team is also available to you if you have a question that you’d like to ask. Each of the team holds a professional qualification in advising on all of the available options. Other options for good advice include a properly regulated insolvency practitioner, or a specialist debt adviser at your local CAB. The point is that debt advice may be an urgent need, but finding the right advice should overcome that urgency. Even where a quick solution is required it’s better to find the right advice than to spend months or years dealing with the consequences of bad advice. Unsolicited debt texts put you at a huge risk of bad advice in the view of the IVA Advice Forum team.

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