Following the letter of complaint regarding abuse of the insolvency
register sent to the OFT by Andy Davie of IVA.co.uk in April, the OFT
have announced that they have issued warnings to 12 businesses.
Andy Davie, site manager and spokesperson for IVA.co.uk, commented:
“In April 2008, we wrote to the OFT calling on
them to investigate the practices of certain companies who were known to
be using the insolvency register to put out mass mailings instructing
people to stop paying their IVAs. This practice is currently causing
great distress to vulnerable people so we are delighted that the OFT has
taken action to issue warnings to those responsible.
Whilst IVAs are arranged and supervised by highly qualified and
regulated IPs, those companies responsible for the mail shots are often
both unqualified and unregulated. We will continue to campaign for
access to the insolvency register to be limited as we feel this is still
a serious issue where massive amounts of personal data are being made
available to anyone with an internet connection. Our petition now has
almost over 450 signatures and we are preparing a case to put before the
Information Commissioner.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
References
The OFT announcement can be viewed here: http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2008/70-08
The letter Andy Davie of IVA.co.uk wrote to the OFT can be viewed here: http://www.iva.co.uk/media_coverage/media_room_PressRelease.asp?id=174
The IVA.co.uk petition to restrict or control access to the Insolvency
Register can be viewed here: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/InsolvReg/
About IVA.co.uk
IVA.co.uk is the UK’s biggest online IVA
community for information and advice about Individual Voluntary
Arrangements (IVAs). It is a leading authority on debt and finance in
the UK and receives over 5,400,000 hits a month. IVA.co.uk was formed in
2005 to help improve understanding of debt and debt solutions in the UK
by providing expert advice and a live forum alongside a regular roundup
of the latest news, statistics, and research from the world of debt
solutions.
The IVA Forum (iva.co.uk/forum) was launched in January 2006 to enable
the community to discuss IVA issues. The IVA forum now has 6,000 members
and over 100,000 posts. Online TV channel IVA TV (TV.iva.co.uk) was
launched in December 2006 to report on issues surrounding IVAs and debt.
IVA Community Blogs (blogs.iva.co.uk) was launched in January 2007 to
provide free blogging space for anyone from the IVA community.
IVA.co.uk was created by, and is maintained by Community121 (www.community121.com),
builders of niche community websites.
PR121 for IVA.co.uk
Emily Cagle
Tel. +44 (0) 20 7022 4897
Mob.
+44 (0) 79 1230 9121