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“STAY AWAY FROM CHURCHWOOD!!!”

written by alexfa1990 on 16/08/2013

My mum got in to contact with Churchwood in 2009 after struggling with £15,000 of debt with which she was only managing to pay the interest. After contacting them online, she quickly received a phone call from a man who promised all her worries could go away by agreeing to an IVA with Churchwood. He told her that after 5 years of paying £250 a month her debt would be clear and all interest wiped. My mum was told that she’d have to pay a £500 setting up fee and because she did not have this money, the man on the phone told her to charge it to a credit card which could then be added into her current debt re-payment. This should have set alarm bells ringing for her but unfortunately she was desperate and just happy to be speaking to someone so understanding and offering a solution.
She has paid the full amount on time every month for nearly 4 years and was told that if this was done, the last 6 months may be wiped clear. Churchwood ring her constantly, something which I have recently read is a big problem for everyone, and today she rang them back to get a catch up with where her payments are. My mum is way too trustworthy and has been throwing statements out without much notice to what they say so she was in for a shock when she spoke to an advisor earlier today. She was told that she was actually in a Debt Management plan, not an IVA, and still had roughly 3 and a half years left to pay with an outstanding balance of £14,900! That would mean that in nearly four years only £100 had been paid off of her debts. She has letters from Churchwood stating that the interest has been frozen on most accounts so there is no way the roughly £12,000 she has already paid has only been paying off interest. Upon researching the company online, I have seen so many other complaints like this!
My mum is obviously devastated as she was hoping to get a mortgage soon and was thinking she had, at most, 15 months left of paying. We’ve since found out about companies which can help with this problem for free and where all of the money goes towards your debts; I only wish she’d known about this before. My mum has yet to ring the companies she owes money to see how much of her debt has actually been paid off. I have read reviews which state that the companies never received a penny from Churchwood and ones which say the payments were late resulting in late payment fees and ultimately even more debt.
I’m so devastated for my mum and cannot believe that genuine people who are in need of help can be so taken advantage of by companies like this. I’m currently looking into methods of getting the company investigated, maybe writing to the government and also getting in touch with the financial ombudsman. My mum knows she’ll probably not get a penny of her money back but cannot stand the thought of other people going through the same ordeal! Please, please, please stay away from this company!!