Dealing with debt. Moneyvillage.ie Any Use?

ronan45

Has anyone actually used the services of moneyvillage.ie or similar outfits?
The average guy can talk to the bank and work out some form of repayment scheme when difficulty arrises. You cant get blood from a Stone. Do these companies get any result from the banks that the average Joe would not be able to obtain talking to the bank directly themselves? Anyone have any stories or thoughts? Is their function just to be a conduit between the Person and the bank.

phormium

You will have as much luck talking to the bank yourself unless you are one of those people who cannot understand finance and figures in general. Some people are just no good at that stuff but if you have a grasp of your own position budget wise then I see no reason to use an outfit like that. In fact if you want to use anyone make an appointment with MABS, the banks are far more well disposed to dealing with them and some will not actually deal with debt management companies at all on the basis that the fee you pay them would be better spent paying your own bills.

maggiefox

i ran up huge debts over last three years. I went to mabs and they were lovely but even though they gave me advice it meant I had to deal with the banks and the credit card people myself. After calling them I dont know how many times they kept threatening me. Honestly. One bank told me they would go after my house and they did. they took a judgement against the property. When I heard of Money village I was wary i must be honest because i had heard mixed views. I eventually gave them over my bills and asked them to talk to those I owed (over 180,000 worth in total)! maybe I was kidding myself but they dont go near me. I pay them what I can every month. an odd time I get a creditor chasing me on the mobile but I dont take the call. One tried to threaten me with court proceedings but my solicitor told me that because i am paying every month they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
Money Village simply manage what I haven't the stomach to do. But I sleep at night!

ronan45

maggiefox wrote: »

i ran up huge debts over last three years. I went to mabs and they were lovely but even though they gave me advice it meant I had to deal with the banks and the credit card people myself. After calling them I dont know how many times they kept threatening me. Honestly. One bank told me they would go after my house and they did. they took a judgement against the property. When I heard of Money village I was wary i must be honest because i had heard mixed views. I eventually gave them over my bills and asked them to talk to those I owed (over 180,000 worth in total)! maybe I was kidding myself but they dont go near me. I pay them what I can every month. an odd time I get a creditor chasing me on the mobile but I dont take the call. One tried to threaten me with court proceedings but my solicitor told me that because i am paying every month they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
Money Village simply manage what I haven't the stomach to do. But I sleep at night!

Thanks Maggie, So basically they are a representative for you? Where they able to negotitate any write down or freeze any interest for you?

coylemj

Thanks Maggie, and what attracted you to this splendid service - perhaps you work for them? Or were you so overwhelmed by the quality of the service that you rushed over to your PC, registered on boards.ie and typed up a glowing review for a service provider most of us have probably never heard of?

BTW, you forgot to mention the €495 'initial instruction fee' and the minimum monthly charge of €35, rising to €50 p.m. if you have more than five debts. Seems to me you'd be on a fairly slippery slope engaging with that crowd.

I also note on the website that the people who deal with your moneyvillage's clients are qualified financial 'consultants', not qualified financial advisers (QFAs) where a specific level of education and qualification is required, perhaps they have too much in the way of qualifications to lower themselves to the level of mere 'advisers'.

chris85

coylemj wrote: »

Thanks Maggie, and what attracted you to this splendid service - perhaps you work for them? Or were you so overwhelmed by the quality of the service that you rushed over to your PC, registered on boards.ie and typed up a glowing review for a service provider most of us have probably never heard of?

BTW, you forgot to mention the €495 'initial instruction fee' and the minimum monthly charge of €35, rising to €50 p.m. if you have more than five debts. Seems to me you'd be on a fairly slippery slope engaging with that crowd.

I also note on the website that the people who deal with your moneyvillage's clients are qualified financial 'consultants', not qualified financial advisers (QFAs) where a specific level of education and qualification is required, perhaps they have too much in the way of qualifications to lower themselves to the level of mere 'advisers'.

+1

Maggie totally works there. The cost they charge their clients is terrible.

OP use the MABS self help guide which should help. It can be hard dealing wiht creditors but will help. Money Village will not be able to get you a better deal. The banks view them quite badly as many stories of them ripping off customer/not outlining the charges they have.

buzz11

Some of the debt management companies were interviewed on Liveline and Joe tore shreds out of them.
-they don't deal with secured debts i.e. mortgage, car loans. The client has to deal with these themselves.
-They only write to unsecured creditors and "ask" them to freeze the interest but other than the letter, nothing else is done to stop the debt growing. You'd be better off negotiating on your own behalf

Some of the debt management companies pay your unsecured creditors on an equal basis, not on the basis of who's owed the most or the highest interest.
So for example if you have €100 each month to pay off debts they firstly deduct their fee and then divide the remainder equally between the creditors. This is bad money management because you should be paying off the highest interest loans first, or consolidating or negotiating.
This method favors the debt management company because your debt may never actually be reducing when the interest is growing and repayments are too small to make a difference, but hey they'll be getting their monthly charges so they stay in business.

Debt management companies are bad news and the Regulator / Central Bank is asleep at the wheel again, doing nothing to regulate their activities.

Darragho

Hi,

I ran into trouble financially in the last 2yrs due to being out of work for 1 year, I was getting hounded by Bank of Ireland and MBNA and also the Credit union.

I made an appointment with Bank of Ireland who restructured my personal loan have had no trouble since and that has been 12 months ago.

I rang MBNA and sent them an income and expenditure report to advise where my money was going and what I could pay them, they accepted my proposal as I was honest with them and they reduced the interest rate.
I found some of the agents quite abrupt in mbna but was firm with them as i was not running away from my debts like the likes one of the richest men in ireland at one stage trying to declare himself bankrupt over the border total bulls**t.

The main issue I had was with the credit union which I was most surprised at as would have taught they would have been the easiest to deal with they were the worst in the end and I will have nothing further to do with them in 12 months when my loan is paid with them.

To anyone experiencing financial issues they should approach the lender themselves and not have to go to unregulated advisors who charge a fee, be honest and upfront with the income and expenditure and the lenders will look favourably if they see a person is making an effort and not running away from the situation.

Merry Christmas

ronan45

maggiefox wrote: »

i ran up huge debts over last three years. I went to mabs and they were lovely but even though they gave me advice it meant I had to deal with the banks and the credit card people myself. After calling them I dont know how many times they kept threatening me. Honestly. One bank told me they would go after my house and they did. they took a judgement against the property. When I heard of Money village I was wary i must be honest because i had heard mixed views. I eventually gave them over my bills and asked them to talk to those I owed (over 180,000 worth in total)! maybe I was kidding myself but they dont go near me. I pay them what I can every month. an odd time I get a creditor chasing me on the mobile but I dont take the call. One tried to threaten me with court proceedings but my solicitor told me that because i am paying every month they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
Money Village simply manage what I haven't the stomach to do. But I sleep at night!

You must be sleeping very well considering you set your account up especially to plug moneyvillage and never logged in again:rolleyes:

You would also think you had a vested interest! How are things these days? lmfao:p

dudara

ronan45 There is no need to drag up a thread to make an observation that has already been made many times.

If anyone has a problem with a post, please use the Report Post functionality so that the mods can deal with it. Do not add noise to the thread.

dudara

Marcanthony

ronan45 wrote: »

Thanks Maggie, So basically they are a representative for you? Where they able to negotitate any write down or freeze any interest for you?

I never used them and I dont know anyone who has.But I heard of a company in England providing this service and they work on your behalf with your best intrests at heart to gain the best possible repayment plan. They are professionals working on your behalf to mitigate your financial issues.

In my opinion better to use a third party. If you dont have the bal*s to confront the lenders yourself.However shop around and see who else provides this service. I have to agree with your point about maggie.

However hope your circumstances change in the near future. Best of luck.

Uggoon

To be honest, your better off take the bull by horns. Deals are being cut big time. Don't let the bullies in the bank frighten you. Always remember your the person living in a devalued house, they lent you the money. you can always walk away & rent.