The IVA Council has settled its High Court dispute with ClearDebt Limited by providing an apology to the company and agreeing, along with associated companies and individuals, to pay £250,000 in damages and costs.

• Defendants* pay £250,000 to ClearDebt** to settle claim over defamatory letters.
• IVA Council and UK Bankruptcy Ltd admit allegations made against ClearDebt were unfounded.
• IVA Council admits it is not a “non-profit making organisation”.

The IVA Council had initially sent out letters urging highly-indebted people to stop paying into individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). Debtors who responded to the letters were referred directly to UK Bankruptcy Ltd (UKB), a company that charges over £1,000 to provide bankruptcy advice and assistance to those in IVAs.

In a letter of apology written to ClearDebt as part of the settlement, the principal Defendants accepted that allegations made by the IVA Council and UKB to the effect that ClearDebt was an ‘IVA factory’ and had repeatedly mis-sold IVAs to its clients were entirely unfounded.

Further, they admitted that it was untrue to state that the IVA Council was a “nonprofit making organisation” or a “consumer awareness/action group.” They also admitted that it was untrue for UKB to state that it was “not in any way associated” with the IVA Council, although they maintained that there was a ‘contractual agreement’ between UKB and the IVA Council.

Commenting, ClearDebt CEO, David Mond, said:

“ClearDebt was set up because I believed IVAs were the best and fairest deal between debtors and creditors. We took this action, on our own and on our industry’s behalf, because we believed the IVA Council were preying on many people who were striving to deal with their debt and who had been found the most appropriate solution to their needs.”

View Letter Of Apology (pdf).
View Order Of The Court (pdf).
View Freezing Interim Judgment (pdf).

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* The principal Defendants in the case were Sean Mason, Tobias Gooden, their company UK Bankruptcy Limited, William Lindley and Shane Mulroy, all of whom were alleged to be behind the operation of the IVA Council.

** The payment was made to ClearDebt Ltd, David Mond, and Hodgsons Chartered Accountants as the co-Claimants.

For further information please contact:

David Mond, ClearDebt Group plc
Tel: 0161 969 2023
david.mond@cleardebt.co.uk

Andrew Smith, ClearDebt Group plc
Tel: 0161 968 6825
andrew.smith@cleardebt.co.uk