Melanie Giles, Forum Expert, places her 10,000th post
This news story is closer to the forum than most: Melanie Giles yesterday made her 10,000 post on the IVA forum, making her the most active expert, even eclipsing site manager Andy Davie by almost 5,000 posts. It is a remarkable achievement, and since joining the forums a year ago, her contributions have been invaluable, helping numerous debtors with practical, honest (and frequent!) advice.
While Melanie has been an especially active contributor, many others on the forum have shared their expert knowledge as well. The range of experts on the forum has expanded considerably over the past year. Long standing Insolvency Practitioner experts such as Catullus and Melanie have been joined by legal experts, mortgage brokers, and many others. With remortgage and home equity a complex issue that worries many debtors in an IVA, the help of specialist mortgage advisors such as Mike Burridge and Andrew Graveson has been invaluable.
But perhaps most impressive are the number of ’self-trained’ experts on the site, ordinary debtors who have gone through their own debt problems and now help to advise newcomers to the forums. Some, like Skippy and Scaredkez, have been able to give an inside perspective on bankruptcy, a process that still frightens many. Hopefully creditors themselves will develop a stronger active presence on the forum (although it is well know that they are frequent, unseen visitors to the site), so that the forum can host opinions from every side of the debt industry.
This communication runs both ways. Those in debt get access to free, impartial and expert advice in a supportive environment, and the experts themselves gain an invaluable insight into the stories behind the debt – the many reasons and causes of a serious debt problem, and what it feels like to struggle under the pressure of creditor harassment. As more members join and the IVA.co.uk community grows, it is the combination of industry experts and ordinary debtors with their direct experience that continues to push the forum from strength to strength.
