How we compare debt-help companies
We show selected companies, their customer review scores, what they do and what they charge. We do not pick a company or a debt solution for you.
Our review integrity policy and reporting an issue
Company-level scores can cover several services. They are not IVA outcome scores or proof of regulatory permission.
Which companies we include
We started with a small set of well-known debt-help and IVA companies, chosen from public review evidence. It is not the whole market. Before we list a company we check, at the source:
- its website is real and does what we say it does
- which company you actually deal with, using Companies House and, where a company says it is authorised, the Financial Conduct Authority register
- its fees, from its own website
- its Trustpilot score and number of reviews
At the moment we leave out companies with a Trustpilot score below 4.0. Every fact shows the date we checked it. If we cannot confirm something, we say so instead of guessing.
How the order is set
The list starts with the highest Trustpilot score. If two companies have the same score, the one with more reviews comes first. If that is the same too, they go in A to Z order. You can also sort A to Z or by the number of reviews. We use the number exactly as Trustpilot shows it, not a star picture.
Payment never changes the order. A company cannot pay to move up, change its score or change the facts we show.
What a review score cannot tell you
- Whether an IVA, a debt management plan or any other solution is right for you.
- How many of a company’s arrangements finish successfully. We have not found fair, like-for-like figures for this.
- What it will cost you. Read the fees, and ask the company to explain them.
- How companies collect reviews. Some reviews come soon after first contact, not years into a plan.
A free debt adviser can look at your whole situation. Find free help.
Paid and unpaid links
Today, no company pays us. Every “Visit” link is unpaid. We may offer clearly labelled advertising in future. If we do, the paid placement will carry the word “Advertisement” and say who pays. We will also tag paid links so search engines know they are paid.
If we ever stop a company’s paid placement, its ordinary listing stays, with the same facts and score. If a company fails our checks, we pause its “Visit” link while we look again. How we make money
Counting visits
We count how many times each “Visit” button is pressed: which company, which of our pages, which button and whether the link was paid. There are no cookies or IDs, and nothing about you. More in our privacy page.
Corrections
If a fact is wrong or out of date, email help@ivasandbankruptcy.co.uk. Companies can ask us to correct a fact too. We check it at the source and change it if we were wrong, with the new date.