Free Debt Help - Does Free Mean Intervention Or Just Advice?

Views From The Myvesta Forum......

Hi James thanks for sharing your views.

Regarding lower value debts would you not, for example, utilise other statutory tools such as the Administration Order? Equally what about token payment strategies as a way of putting in place a 'stepping stone' approach to deal with a transitional peiod? Take your point with many DMPs - although they still have a definitate place as a useful debt tool.

At Myvesta as we are a not for profit organisation we tend to speak with people everyday that have been 'processed' for an IVA or other debt management option and if they do not meet the criteria they are simply given a 'free' self-help pack (if they are lucky) and then for all intents and purposes shown the door (and it would seem that this is true of both commercial and some supposedly non commercial organisations)

The missing ingrediant here is 'intervention' though and perhaps this is a more suitable word than 'free'?

There are many many organisations (charitable & commercial) that profess to giving free advice and help. The reality of the situation is that most organistions only deal with unsecured debts and do not actually intevene with priority debt situations or disburse to priority creditors as part of a comprehensive debt management strategy.

For many consumers facing difficult situations that require actual intervention they are ultimately ignored by these organisations that profess to help but actually are only prepared to help up until a point.

I am a great believer in helping people to help themselves and it is equally important that individuals 'pull their own weight' and stick to their part of the bargain in a strategy that will help them overcome a dificult money problem etc.

There is far too much 'tea and sympathy' offered under the guise of 'free advice' that actually achieves very little in a lot of cases.
Free is useless unless it actually delivers a result. Likewise though if organisations use this word free then they should also clarify exactly what 'free' actually 'gets you for your money' So if I am an indebted consumer (without any unsecured debt) but would really benefit form a debt management plan to deal to help bring a combination of priority debts under control then the word free as used by most organisations (commercial or charitable) really doesn't mean a great deal to me as I would not be offered any actualy 'intervention'

This is were organisations like the CAB do offer a point of difference (albeit the quality of advice is far from consistant) as they can often offer 'intervention' in such cases depending on resource.

Any original thoughts?


Kind regards

Sean
http://www.myvesta.org.uk