The title to this piece is the tag line for the recent TV ad which forms part of the awareness campaign which was recently launched by the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI). This is a link to their TV advert

The video shows a mother and her 2 kids at breakfast time as they are getting ready for school. It moves on to show her drowning in her kitchen because of the huge pressure she is feeling due to the debts that have been built up and the constant letters, phone calls and threats of legal proceedings and home repossession being made by her creditors. I find this video very poignant and it shows her as just being a normal person who is absolutely lost and doesn’t know what to do.

This would reflect the mood of the people who I have met over the last few years since I became a licenced Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP) in August 2013. It still surprises me that following our meeting they almost always tell me how much better they feel after sharing their problems and how they now understand that there are solutions to dealing with their debts. This meeting is the first big step on their journey to returning themselves to solvency. I have to admire the people that I meet as it must be tough opening up to a complete stranger about their problems and then telling the story about how they got to where they now find themselves. I would like to think that after they meet me they feel that someone is finally in their corner and that I have their back no matter what happens from there on.

Under the legislation the PIP effectively steps in to the person’s shoes and starts dealing directly with their creditors on their behalf. This means the letters; phone calls and any legal proceedings will stop to allow time (70 days) for the PIP to make a proposal to their creditors to resolve their debts. In most cases this will involve a substantial write down of debt.

Although the number of people who have availed of the new personal insolvency legislation is still quite low (just over 3,000 to date) we would estimate that there are a couple of hundred thousand people out there who need help and advice on how to resolve their indebtedness.

This is a link to the most recent statistics report issued by the ISI.  

The statistics reports show that 70% of proposals are being accepted by creditors. The success rate for DSA’s is 82% and PIA’s is 67% .There are almost 400 PIA arrangements that were rejected by creditors that are currently being appealed to the insolvency courts. The appeals process is in its infancy but there have been a number of PIA arrangements that were rejected by creditors which have been approved by the insolvency judges.

The government also (finally) launched a debtors support scheme called ‘Abhaile’ late last year.

This is a government funded scheme that allows a debtor to meet with a PIP and a solicitor from their panel of approved advisors for a free consultation to assess their case and provide advice to the debtor on how they can avail of the personal insolvency legislation to resolve their debts.

It is important to note that although there are currently over a 100 licenced PIPs nationwide there are only circa 30/40 PIPS who are active and have relevant experience of how the personal insolvency legislation works. As you only get one shot at availing of the legislation to resolve your debts it is extremely important to choose an advisor carefully and there is no problem in asking a PIP how many cases they have dealt with and how long they have been operating as a PIP.

Although it has been a slow burner from an activity perspective we would expect the number of arrangements being made in 2017 to increase significantly compared to previous years.

Regards

Mark Ryan, CPA,

Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP),

Director, Quintas

Email: mark.ryan@quintas.ie

Mark Ryan is authorised by the Insolvency Service of Ireland to carry on practice as a personal insolvency practitioner.