Well we had a record equalling turn out,15 people.These Saturday night frugal friends seem very popular and this meeting was organised and sponsored by John and Gwen Tegg of Protectiva[Coveritall].
The location was so easy to find and the hotel smart and well managed.
It took us just over two hours to travel the 135 miles and arrived at around 5.30pm.After checking in I joined John and Gwen for a drink whilst Bev finished getting herself ready.I had seen Emma[Emma t],Ang[Aguise],Debbie[Soulgrowth] and friend Dave whilst checking in and they had nipped off for a pre meeting drink in another bar.
Teresa[Treen] and her partner Shaun were in the bar area already and made themselves known to me.Tracey[Skippy]and partner Dave arrived soon after as did Steve and Lin,they were regular forum readers but had never posted even though they were in an IVA.
Once Melanie arrived we all went into a meeting room that John had hired and got chatting about the current issues and forum postings.We then moved into the hotel restuarant and had a wonderful hot buffet
We then moved back into the meeting room and chatted until gone 11pm.
A really great evening and thanks to John and Gwen for picking up the cost and organising such a friendly and informative meeting.
I had bought John a bottle of whiskey to say thank you but had left it in my room.The next morning he had left before I had a chance to give it to him.A bottle of 10 year old Famous Grouse awaits you John !!

Well on paper this had the makings of my best ever attended frugal friends meeting with fifteen people confirmed,and I wasn’t disappointed as all managed to attend.
Now I had changed the day for the meeting from the usual mid week slot to a Saturday eveing[thanks to Aguise for suggesting] and this was probabaly the main reason for the great turn out,however what I hadn’t factored for was just how busy the area surrounding the hotel would be[it’s located right in the main city centre].We had used this hotel before and it seemed fine,although it had no parking it was just by the main train station however most people chose to drive and the lack of nearby parking and horrible weather made getting to the venue an adventure in itself.
John and Gwen[Coveritall] arrived early and nipped out for a Pizza,followed by Debbie[Soulgrowth] and then myself and Bev.Pixie[anna] and Emma T followed soon after and we settled down for a chat over a drink.
I had checked at reception about the hot and cold buffet and was told that the restuarant were expecting us and to go in when we were ready,I also gave them my business card and asked them to direct anybody looking for Andy or mentioning IVA.co.uk to the lounge area upstairs.
Gavin and Donna arrived next followed by Ang[Aguise] and Kris[Lilly],we all chatted about life in an IVA and how people were finding it,most were coping well and that was good to hear.
New forum member Gavin arrived next[totalgav] followed by Paul Johns[Reviva] and Martin.By this time we had taken over the lounge area and had used nearly every seat and sat in a big circle.Everyone seemed to be relaxed and chatty and before we knew it the time was approaching 9pm.
Melanie arrived,having been held up with heavy traffic and parking problems,after getting her a drink I went to check on our buffet only to be told that the restaurant closed at 9pm and that they could not find us,so had packed the food away !!!
Now as we were virtually the only ones in the hotel lounge/bar I found this amazing,but after a brief conversation they agreed to keep the restaurant open and serve our buffet.
Well words can’t describe what we were offered,bacon,scampi,chops,grated cheese,etc etc.Very poor to say the least.
I felt sorry for Melanie as she was sponsoring this part of the meeting and after the long jouney must of felt extremely angry,she went to speak with the duty manager whilst the rest of us made the best of the offerings.
After being told that we had to be out of the restuarant by 10pm we gathered again in the lounge and continued the meeting right through until gone midnight.All areas of insolvency were discussed and time flew by
Kris[Lily]had kindly arranged for a bouquet of flowers to thank Melanie,on behalf of us all,for her continued support and for sponsoring the buffet.
It really was an excellent and very enjoyable meeting,despite the problems,and I am already looking forward to the next one

I had the opportunity to interview Mark Simon this week.Mark is the Chief Executive Officer for Tuxedo money solutions based in London.The Tuxedo card is a pre paid card that can be used in the same way that a credit card can,without the danger of overspending and incurring costs,and is accepted in all the same outlets as well as online.
Have a look at the interview because Mark speaks very highly of IVA.co.uk and also gives a good overview of the Tuxedo card.

I took the train upto Manchester Monday afternoon and was hoping for our best ever frugal friends turn out.My very first frugal friends had been in Manchester,same venue,some ten months before and I had one couple turn up.I was really keeping my fingers crossed that forum members Mr and Mrs Skint would come and I wasn’t disappointed as they arrived a few minutes early.We soon got chatting over a drink and I was amazed at how Lisa and her husband had coped with all that’s been thrown at them,Lisa has MS and her youngest is possibly autistic.Bearing in mind that they have also been through,and successfully concluded,an IVA you can only admire them.
Melanie and Andrew Graveson arrived next and had driven from Wales,Andrew was on soft drinks only so I quickly asked the hotel to cancel the extra brewery delivery that they had lined up for the evening!!
John and Gwen Tegg then came down,having checked in earlier,and as I was getting the drinks in Ian Millington arrived,followed shortly by Mike[Size5].Finally one of John’s business associates joined us,he specialised in web optimisation.So all in all there were ten of us,the best turn out to date.
Conversation covered all areas and it was interesting to have Lisa and husband John there to answer questions from Melanie about how they first came accross the IVA.co.uk website and nice to hear that they got their idea for a full and final settlement directly from advice given by Melanie on the forum.Lisa was also glad to meet Andrew who had arranged the remortgage for their full and final.
Both Ian and Mike came across very well during the evening and are both genuinely concerned with the ever changing debt industry.
It really was a great evening and although Melanie,Andrew,Lisa and John had to leave,as they were driving back,myself,Ian,Size5 and John Tegg continued to chat and drink right through until close to midnight.I lost count of the times I heard ‘let’s just have one more ‘

My next meeting will be in either London or Birmingham in March,look out for details

I drove down to Wales,on the afternoon of the 18th,to meet up with forum experts Andrew Graveson and Melanie Giles.I was due to interview Andrew for IVA.co.uk TV the next day and as I was staying over[400mile round trip]we thought that we would get to gether for a drink and natter the evening before.
Melanie kindly picked me up from my hotel at around 7pm and we met Andrew in a wine bar a couple of miles away in the Cardiff Bay centre.After a few glasses of wine we walked to a local pasta restuarant and quickly downed a three course dinner.Before I knew it had gone midnight and we called it a night.Many thanks to both Melanie and Andrew for a great evening[more thanks to Andrew for picking up the restuarant bill].
The next morning I walked to Andrew’s offices located just opposite Cardiff Bay station and we nipped out and grabbed a coffee.Adrian from Film 121 arrived shortly afterwards and we set up the meeting room ready for the interview.
Andrew owns a debt management company,Brightoak,and also is a mortgage broker.I found his insight into the debt industry most interesting and could sense that he believes very strongly in customer service and the right advice being given as an absolute priority.He seemed to have the same ethos and beliefs as Melanie when it comes to debt issues.
A very enjoyable couple of days and I look forward to meeting Andrew again as he is a regular attendee of both our debt debates and frugal friends meetings

I drove down to Gloucester early today[3 hour drive]to interview forum expert John Tegg,in his home,who posts under the username Coveritall. On arrival his lovely wife Gwen served up coffee and toast whilst John and myself had a good chat.When Adrian arrived,from Film 121,we all went into Johns office and reviewed his various insurance products and his systems.I was very impressed with Johns paperless office and the way that he not only underwrites various policies but also deals with claims etc.He also collects many thousands of pounds in premiums each month.Not bad for a guy who has been through bankruptcy.

His latest product Protectiva is unique and I’m sure will eventually be welcomed by IPs and debtors
I would urge everyone to view my interview with John because his story is an inspiration and difinitive proof that there is life after debt.
After my interview we enjoyed an excellent lunch prepared by Gwen.
I have to say that John and Gwen are two of the nicest people that I have ever met,their success is a credit to them both and much deserved.

Well I had a call abot midday from a reporter/producer from the BBC Breakfast Business News asking if he could come to my work place later that day and interview me about my IVA story and the IVA.co.uk website.Said yes but then wondered how was I going to do the interview with the shop open ?
Anyway the reporter turned up with a camerman at about 3pm and I made them a coffee whilst we had a chat,nice guys and everything seemed fine.I was looking forward to talking up both IVAs and the IVA.co.uk site.I thought as the interview was pre recorded they could edit out any stumbling of words or long pauses so didn’t feel too nervous.
We kicked off but I kept having to stop and serve so in the end I locked the door.
I felt the interview went fairly well,with myself talking for about 30mins.
I was told that it would be shown from 7.50am the next day.
I was up early and out with my stall on the local market but was phoned at about 7.30 by my wife telling me that I had been on the main news ! No mention of the site though
I was then on the main business part of the show with a longer slot but again all mention of the site etc had been edited out.Have to say I felt a little embarrassed by it all and a little angry that no mention of IVA.co.uk was made.
Still getting comments from customers today,most simply say that they saw me on TV,some say well done and a couple of others have said that they didn’t know that I was in financial trouble[i’m not !!]
Let’s hope that next time I can talk about the site and all the good that we do.

On 8 January I met up with Andy Woodhead from the Policy Unit of The
Insolvency Service at their office in London. Andy explained that although he is not an official spokesperson for The Insolvency Service he was happy to meet with me to provide information and clarify a number of issues.

Andy gave me a brief (but very informative) outline of the Service, which I now know is an executive agency of the Dept for Business. Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), what the Service does and his role Service’s policy unit.

With regard to the Individual Insolvency Register (IIR), Andy explained that this has been a statutory (legal) register since 1999 and the register was made electronic as part of Government policy to provide more electronic access to public services. Andy was not aware of any any plans to change access to it, but he could understand my concerns. Andy advised that the responsibility for the IIR belongs to colleagues in to the Service’s Secretariat Unit and provided me with contact details. I will be contacting them directly going forward.

On the subject of the SIVA it still looks likely that it could commence around October 08,however there are still a number of legal hoops to be negotiated SIVAs should be in the format that I have already posted in the articles section on the IVA.co.uk site.

We then talked about the new IVA protocol that is due to start at the end of this month. Details of the new protocol can be found in the IVA News section and have now been published on the Service’s website (http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/). Briefly, the protocol will only apply to simple consumer type cases and banks and IVA providers have agreed a number of areas of best practice, for example by using the same guidelines on income and expenditure etc. The protocol also provides a set of Standard Terms and Conditions rather than each IP having its own version. The protocol also includes a standard approach for dealing with any interest in a debtor’s home. The protocol will be reviewed after three months.

Andy explained that the advantage of a protocol over statutory law is that it is flexible and things can be changed with agreement of IVA Standing Committee, unlike legislation, which can be very difficult to change.

Now that the protocol has been finalised the Service is looking at the demand for producing facts and figures relating to IVA failure rates, dividends etc etc, something that I would welcome.

I also raised the subject of IP fees being totally controlled by the creditors. Andy stated that it would be impractical for the Service to regulate IPs fees and that these should be controlled by market forces. He also pointed out that he was not aware of other professional service providers such as solicitors or accountants having their fees set by legislation.

The new Debt Relief Orders (DRO) are not active yet but are expected to come into force in 2009. They are aimed at the low income and low asset debtors that can’t pay their debts and find it hard to meet the bankruptcy costs. Applications for a DRO will be made to the Service but they will be done through authorised intermediaries, not the courts. I also learned of another abbreviation,”nina” no income and no assets.

Moving onto bankruptcy informed Andy that The Service’s guidance to ORs is available to all (under Freedom of Information) on its website http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/ . However given that the Service employs nearly 3,000 people it was almost inevitable that there would be some inconsistencies between ORs offices.

In regards to vehicles Andy did inform me that these are covered by a specific section of the Insolvency Act 1986 which sets out that a vehicle could only be exempted from a bankrupt’s estate where it was clearly identified as being necessary for employment, business or vocation. Andy also advised that the guidance also covered assessing the setting of contribution levels in relation to Income Payments Agreements/Order.

Andy recognised that how a debtor’s income and expenditure are assessed can vary as the figures might be based on the Family Expenditure Survey, the Common Financial Statement or the CCCS guidelines.

Andy also highlighted that the Service does have an easily accessible complaints procedure (http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/) that is also published on its website and that if the complaint could not be resolved by the Service it could end up with an independent adjudicator.

We also discussed whether there should be properly recognised qualifications for debt advisors. Andy did say that this is not something that could be progressed by the Service however he (and I) appreciate that if there was an NVQ type qualification it would be of great benefit.
.
We talked for a full hour and I found Andy to be a wealth of knowledge, friendly and very enthusiastic about the role of The Insolvency Service. I also realised that changing any legislation regarding insolvency is a long process. I found the meeting very interesting and worthwhile, it’s good to see another area of the industry first hand.

Follwing the Frugal Friends meeting the evening before I spent the following day at Melanies office,Cardiff. After a leisurely breakfast,and a sore head[thanks Andrew] I took a taxi to Melanies office,arriving at 9.15. The offices were larger than I had expected,covering two floors and Melanies staff were friendly and welcoming. We started the day touring the office and meeting Melanies business partner.

I then sat in on a creditors meeting,successful,and was surprised at the amount of paperwork and modifications involved.
Next was a client meeting and this I found so interesting as it reminded me of my own problems pre IVA.The gentlemen involved had travelled from Letchworth,close to 200 miles and Melanie explained all the options open to him.The sobering part of the meeting was seeing the guys face when it hit home to him that he really did not have enough income,even without any debts to pay,to live on.
We then met Adrian from Film 121 and I interviewed Melanie,this can be seen on IVA.co.uk tv.
After this we broke for lunch with Melanies business partner and their accountant,very nice it was too !!
A client telephone interview followed lunch and in this interview Melanie outlined the bankruptcy option to a client who had been referred from a debt management company but who had not been advised of all the options open to them[shameful]
I then sat in on another creditors meeting,another successful one,again noticing that creditors had attatched a list of modifications as long as my arm even though most of them were already included in the proposal.
My overall impression was the amount of work involved,both on time spent with the client and the time spent on the proposals.Let’s not forget that for the vast majority of IPs they do not get paid until the IVA is agreed,even then it will need to run for many years before they recover the initial costs.
A very useful and enjoyable day,as was the visit to TIX,it is always different to how you imagine it to be and it’s good to see first hand exactly what is involved.

This meeting was very kindly hosted by Melanie and we had Andrew from Brightoak,Tony[welshboy],John Tegg and his wife Gwen plus myself,so an experts only event !!!
I have to say that the evening was brilliant,as was the food.Most subjects were covered and John was able to report on his meeting that he had with TIX earlier in the day.
Myself and Andrew didn’t leave until gone midnight ,so much to talk about.
We have the debt debate in London on the 4th Feb,it would be good to see our London members[Dominc,Skippy,Ray A etc] at this event
I am on holiday in January so I hope to have the next Frugal Friends meeting somewhere in the North of England in late February.