Speak For You

Speak For You: free forensic review of debt and insolvency files in the UK

Speak For You is an independent London-based service offering a free review of complete files relating to Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), loans and debts. The company presents itself as not funded by creditors and with a single director, Roger Wallis, who states he has almost forty years of experience in the UK debt and insolvency sector since 1983. The service consists of requesting and reading the client's file, the insolvency practitioner's file and each lender's file, including call recordings, cross-checking them against each other and issuing a written report in plain language.

What the free forensic review includes

The review covers the documentation the client signed, the insolvency firm's file (including the fact-find, the income and expenditure calculation, internal notes, modifications and the recording of the acceptance call) and each lender's file. Speak For You requests all of this through a limited power of attorney signed by the client. The analysis looks for discrepancies between what the recording says and what the proposal says, budgets built below the national Standard Financial Statement guidelines (which create a surplus that does not exist) and the failure to assess a Debt Relief Order. The result is a written report addressed to the client, in plain English, setting out what the file shows and what the legal alternatives were at the time, indicating where to obtain a free assessment when available. The call, the review and the report are free.

Recurring findings in mis-sold IVAs

The company notes that an IVA is a formal insolvency procedure lasting five or six years and should only be sold to those it suits. Among the recurring findings it mentions are: never having assessed a Debt Relief Order or having ruled it out on a surplus margin of £25 against the limit, when that order is free and clears the debt in twelve months; income and expenditure statements built below the national guidelines, creating an unsustainable contribution; fees that take the largest share of what is paid on debts small enough to have been dealt with another way; contributions raised by modification after the client accepted, without recalculating the estimated outcome; and proposals signed in under three minutes. The company states that these findings come from real files and that, where regulated legal action is required, it is carried out by instructed solicitors.

Closure route based on payments made to date

Speak For You describes a way to close an arrangement that is not going to complete: the supervisor puts a variation to the creditors asking them to accept what has been received to date in full and final settlement, so the arrangement completes without further contributions and a completion certificate is obtained instead of a termination. According to the company, this option is not offered as standard and must be raised on the client's instruction, with figures showing that creditors do no better by refusing it.

Irresponsible lending claims

The same file that shows how the arrangement was sold usually shows how the debt was built. The company mentions loans granted without a proper affordability check, second loans marketed to people already in difficulty and limit increases on accounts that were never being repaid. When the lender's own documentation reveals it, a complaint should be made to the lender first and to the Financial Ombudsman Service afterwards, with recovery of interest and charges.

Three-step process and financial terms

The process consists of three steps, of which the first two are free. First, a twenty-minute call on an 0800 number, during which nothing is decided and nothing is sold. Second, requesting the entire file from the insolvency firm and from each lender, a process that takes weeks. Third, a free written report, tailored to the level of detail the client wants, with the options and the arithmetic behind each one. The client only provides the information and makes the decision; the reading and correspondence are handled by Speak For You. If the report recommends maintaining the current situation, no fee is generated. If there is work to be done, the fee is agreed before starting, is spread over nine months, is less than what the client is currently paying into their arrangement and does not begin until that payment has stopped. The refund terms, if the review does not identify a quicker and cheaper route, are set out in the engagement letter agreed before any fee-paying work.

Director profile and publications

Roger Wallis, director of Speak For You Ltd, states he has worked for almost forty years in the British debt and insolvency sector since 1983. He is the author of the books Insolvency: The Truth and Bailiffs: The Truth, and presents the podcast Debt: The Truth. The company declares it is not funded by creditors and is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority; when a matter requires regulated advice or legal action, it is referred to an authorised firm.

Contact details and opening hours

The company is open Monday to Friday, from 9:00 to 17:00, and responds to all enquiries within 24 hours. Its office is at Suite 53C, Unimix House, Abbey Road, London NW10 7TR. The freephone number is 0800 707 4296 and the email is admin@speakforyou.co.uk. Speak For You Limited is registered in England and Wales with number 16773574.

Suite 53C Unimix House, Abbey Road, London NW10 7TR · Phone: 0800 707 4296 · Email: admin@speakforyou.co.uk