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DSSW is authorised by the Ministry of Justice to provide claims management advice.
DSSW is fully licensed by the Office of Fair Trading to provide debt management and credit broking advice.
Debt Solutions Southwest Ltd is a debt management business based in the South West of England, providing a full debt management and credit advisory service to individuals and businesses.
What are my obligations and costs if I contact you?
What are my obligations and costs if I have an initial consultation with you?
What do I need to do before the initial consultation or meeting?
How do I know whether you can help me?
If I proceed with you, what will it cost me?
When will you tell me what solution is best for me?
My creditors are really pressing me - what should I do?
Should I continue to pay my creditors while I am dealing with you?
What are debt management plans?
What is a administrative receivership?
What responsibilities do directors have with financially troubled companies?
How do I contact you?
You can telephone us on 01823 337471 or you can complete the enquiry form on the Contact Us page and submit it to us.
What are my obligations and costs if I contact you?
You are under no obligation when you contact us. Following an initial conversation, you decide whether you wish to arrange a meeting or consultation.
What are my obligations and costs if I have an initial consultation with you?
The initial consultation is free and you are under no obligation to go further unless you want to do so.
What do I need to do before the initial consultation or meeting?
The initial consultation is basically a fact-finding operation to enable us to understand your situation and your needs, and advise a way forward. It would be helpful if you could have available back up documentation of what you owe, such as bank statements, credit card bills, etc., and any other information that will help us understand your full financial situation.
How do I know whether you can help me?
As every case is different, we will not know until we have met you whether we can help. We will advise you at or after the initial consultation what we believe is your best way forward and how we believe we can help you.
If I proceed with you, what will it cost me?
1. For unenforceable credit cards and loans, we charge as follows:
a) Initial (or audit) fees: £395.00 for the first card/loan and £150.00 for each card or loan thereafter
b) Success fees: 15% of what we save you
c) With the success fees we will give you time to pay depending on your circumstances.
2. For PPI claims, we do not charge an up front audit fee, as this is a no-win-no fee exercise. Once we have made a successful claim on your behalf, we take 25% of the money that is repaid to you.
3. For other work, such as debt management consultation, we will quote you a fee according to your circumstances and the amount of work we have to do. Generally, there will be no costs incurred by you unless you specifically agree to them after we have explained what is involved and given you a quote.
When will you tell me what solution is best for me?
Usually, during the initial consultation, but in some cases it might be a day or so afterwards.
My creditors are really pressing me - what should I do?
Once we have met you we will advise how to deal with creditors in the short term. The Office of Fair Trading has strict guidelines for how debt collectors and creditors must behave. We will contact your creditors to ensure they do not harass you. In extreme cases, we can apply for an ‘Interim Order', which prevents creditors taking any legal action against you while you decide what help you need.
Should I continue to pay my creditors while I am dealing with you?
Again, we will advise you during or after the initial consultation. In some cases (for example if you are contemplating an IVA) it makes good sense to stop paying creditors for the time being.
What is debt consolidation?
The concept of debt consolidation is easy enough to understand. The borrower (or debtor) takes out a new loan in an amount to repay all of his or her existing loans. The new loan is long term and either secured on a property or unsecured. It has a lower interest rate than the debtor's existing loans (which were probably credit and store cards).
The result is that the monthly payment on the new loan is lower than the total monthly payments were on the old loans that have been paid off.
What is an interim order?
Once you have decided to propose an IVA and if you are under extreme pressure from creditors threatening, for example, to make you bankrupt, we can usually apply on your behalf for an ‘Interim Order', which will protect you from creditor action until your IVA is in place.
What is an IVA?
An IVA is a legal contract between you, the debtor, and your unsecured creditors (the people, businesses, banks, etc., to whom you owe money) in which you agree to pay your creditors less than the total amount you owe them over a fixed period of time (usually five years). The payments are paid in equal monthly amounts over the period of the IVA. Once the agreement has been honoured (that is, you have made all the payments) the remaining debt is 'written off', leaving you debt free. An IVA does not include secured debt, such as mortgages, and some other debts such as student loans.
What is bankruptcy?
Bankruptcy arises when an individual is declared bankrupt by a Bankruptcy Order issued by an appropriate court. The order could arise in the following ways:
1. On the application of a creditor (to whom you must owe at least £750), who must show that you are unable to pay your debts, or have no reasonable prospect of doing so.
2. By you, the debtor, on your own application.
3. As a result of a debtor not meeting the terms of an IVA agreement.
What are debt management plans?
DMPs are a way of repaying all your debts in smaller monthly installments, but over a longer period. They are achieved by you requesting this arrangement from your creditors. The arrangements with creditors are ‘informal', in so far as they are not legally binding nor are they sanctioned by the court. They are, if you like, a gentleman's agreement. When agreeing to a DMP, your creditors are usually agreeing that you can reduce your monthly payments, but they are not reducing the total amount you owe them. In fact, because more interest will accrue over the longer payment period, your total debt will probably increase.
What is a CVA?
A CVA is where a debtor company enters into a formal, legally binding, arrangement or composition with its creditors to avoid being wound up. The company, working with an Insolvency Practitioner, proposes a scheme to creditors that maximises creditor returns while enabling the company to continue trading. Typically, a CVA will last three to five years after which, if all payments have been met, the balance of the company's debts will be written off.
What is liquidation?
A Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation is instigated by the directors/shareholders of the company. The company will now cease to trade and the liquidator will sell its assets. Purchasers could include the directors/shareholders of the company, who can now form a new company. Directors are not liable for the debts of the old company unless they had given personal guarantees. A liquidation of a company could be appropriate whether or not the company is technically insolvent or not.
What is administration?
Administration is a cost-effective way of ensuring that a business in financial difficulties can still trade. Once an Administration Order is in place, creditors' rights are frozen and they cannot pursue old debts. The company could now trade under the control of the Administrator with the directors only having the powers delegated to them. Often an Administration Order is used to protect the company while a Company Voluntary Arrangement is considered and proposed to creditors.
What is a administrative receivership?
A Receivership arises where a secured creditor (usually a bank or a finance company) appoints a receiver to secure the assets of a company to recover its loan. The receiver, who is now the agent of the company, will probably sell company assets to recover its loan, but has the ability to continue to trade depending on the circumstances. It is more usual that following a receivership that the company would go into liquidation.
What responsibilities do directors have with financially troubled companies?
Company directors have onerous personal responsibilities and duties conferred by common law and statute. Particular liabilities can arise when their companies get into financial difficulties. These include:
• Fraudulent trading, which arises when a company intentionally defrauds its creditors, and
• Wrongful trading, which arises where a company goes into insolvent liquidation and the directors did not take all possible steps to minimise the loss to creditors.