Smile Ireland: are they a debt management co? What is their business model?

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Apollo

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hi,

Anybody any experience dealing a company called "Smile Ireland"?

They don't seem to charge up upfront or ongoing fees unlike other debt management companies from what I can gather.

Any feedback welcome.

ta
 
From their website:

[broken link removed]

Financial Advisors of Smile Ireland carry out the normal role of a Qualified Financial Advisor by giving a “Full Financial Review”, but also including any creditors into the review. We look at everything from Protection to General Insurance and put structured financial plans in place to cover every aspect of your finances, not just your creditors. Any insurance policies that we restructure or put in place, means that the insurance companies pay us, so we don’t have to charge you.
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For some companies this sort of business model might be a recipe for churning otherwise they don't get paid.

Have you (or whoever you're asking on behalf of) tried posting a summary of the case here in case people can provide useful feedback for dealing with a financial difficulty?
 
I tried them last year and they were able to do nothing for me. More frustratingly I was unable to contact them and they refused to return any phone calls to me. Hope this helps.
 
OP your best option is to deal with a UK debt management company. For some crazy reason they seem to have more clout in dealing with the institutions here.
 
hi folks,

thanks for all your replies.

No clubman its in relation to somebody I can see falling on hard times this year and likely to get into arrears with mortgages, loans and possibly even household utility bills so don't have an actual breakdown of the case yet - just doing some groundwork for him first.

Don't like the sound of them not returning phone calls I have to say RPC757 & Wishes thats an interesting point you make about UK DM companies having more sway with irish lenders - doesn't bode well for their Irish counterparts if its true!
 
In many cases you don't need a third party agency to help in dealing with financial problems. But it does involve work and usually some tough decisions - which not everybody wants to face up to in my experience!
 
MABS, will take ages to get an appointment so ring as soon as possible.
 
hi wbbs,

Is it not the case though that MABS are quite toothless in these situations compared to a debt management company?

Apparantly they can get interest on loans frozen, moratoriums set up and pay holidays as well as revised pay plans to clear the arrears on everything - mortgages, unsecured debt and utility bills.

Smile Ireland seem to be able to do the same except they don't appear to charge fees which is a huge plus in my book as debt management companies can charge quite hefty upfront and ongoing fees. If this smile ireland crowd don't do this but simply make their money by restructuring a few insurance policies then my mate won't be down a good bit of money on fees (DM company fees) and will hopefully save money on insurance policies. If this really is the case then I don't see a problem.

However I'm still anxious about recommending them to him as I don't know anybody personally who has dealt with them. Hence putting a post up on this site.
 
I would have thought it was the other way around, MABS are more inclined to get a better result from the lenders as they have service agreements with practically all of them, some lenders will not even deal with debt management companies.

The DMC 'claim' they can do all those things but I don't think that is the reality.

MABS can also organise to pay the monthly payments and manage the lot but they restrict that service to people who simply are unable to do it themselves for whatever reason, I thought your friend might fit that category from your description of their troubles. There is nothing to be lost by going to MABS, it wont cost anything, if your friends situation is serious enough you may be able to get an emergency appointment a bit sooner than the usual waiting list.
 
I would be very skeptical of claims by any business that they habitually charge clients nothing for sorting our their financial problems.
 
Most debt management companied, including ourselves received a letter from the Central Bank at the beginning of the month stating all debt management companies operating in Ireland could only do so with authorisation from the Central Bank, under the EU Payment Institutions directive. About time too! Until now it was completely unregulated, as I have stated in earlier posts on AAM.

Smile Ireland admit on their website that they get paid from commission earned when they re-sell any insurance policies that you have back to you, and from what I hear from a few clients who have come to us from Smile, they will only really point you in the right direction.

If you do not have any resaleable policies, they are unable to help.

[broken link removed]
Several UK companies are now in the process of withdrawing from Ireland because of the new rules from the Central Bank.

We have begun the authorisation process, and it's fairly rigorous, and designed to ensure that clients and client's funds are protected.

www.frost.ie
 
Smile on Newstalk

There was an interview with someone from "Smile Ireland" on Newstalk just a minute ago.

I heard them saying that their service was completely free. I was wondering were they a voluntary organisation.
I'm just after looking up their website and it appears that they try to sell you insurance while sorting out your debts.

I'm disappointed with them now. I consider insurance nearly more insidious than debt.
 
I presume it was on Global Village? I heard them mentioning that somebody from Smile would be giving financial advice but I didn't hear that slot myself.
 
Beware of 'free' services from any part of the Financial Services sector - their business is in the pits, thanks to themselves mainly. Nothing is 'free' - there is always a price to be paid.
 
ClubMan said:
I presume it was on Global Village? I heard them mentioning that somebody from Smile would be giving financial advice but I didn't hear that slot myself.
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Yes it was Global Village, it was Claire I think and it wasn't her first time on the programe.

All sounded very nice but I didn't hear of how Smile get's paid which would be quite pertinent.

I wasn't 100% concentrating but people could be left with the impression that Smile were an organisation to help those in debt like Mabs is but Smile is a commercial organisation and I really think radio programmes should make that clear.
 
RPC757 said:
I tried them last year and they were able to do nothing for me. More frustratingly I was unable to contact them and they refused to return any phone calls to me. Hope this helps.
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RPC757, I am surprised to hear that, maybe you could contact us and indentify yourself, as we have never ignored a client.

Smile Ireland is NOT a Debt Management Company, we do NOT charge fees (even though we could if we wanted to) and we NEVER take client funds through our account. We are a Financial Services company who also offer assistance with Creditors should a client need it.

If anyone would like full disclosure of how we operate, or indeed would like to talk with any of our clients, then please don't hesitate to contact us.
 
Clare, you can see my comment above. Here it is again:

frostie said:
Most debt management companied, including ourselves received a letter from the Central Bank at the beginning of the month stating all debt management companies operating in Ireland could only do so with authorisation from the Central Bank, under the EU Payment Institutions directive. About time too! Until now it was completely unregulated, as I have stated in earlier posts on AAM.

Smile Ireland admit on their website that they get paid from commission earned when they re-sell any insurance policies that you have back to you, and from what I hear from a few clients who have come to us from Smile, they will only really point you in the right direction.

If you do not have any resaleable policies, they are unable to help.

[broken link removed]
Several UK companies are now in the process of withdrawing from Ireland because of the new rules from the Central Bank. We have begun the authorisation process, and it's fairly rigorous, and designed to ensure that clients and client's funds are protected.
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There is not one word of my post which is untrue.
 
Posts which consisted of a flame war between two companies have been deleted.

Would posters remain civil, remain on topic and use the report post facility if they think that the Posting Guidelines are being breached.

Thanks
aj (moderator)
 
Clare Smile said:
If anyone would like full disclosure of how we operate, or indeed would like to talk with any of our clients, then please don't hesitate to contact us.
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I am very suspicious of any company who does not fully disclose how they operate in public.

Why don't you tell the Askaboutmoney community how you operate and then let us express an opinion on it.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Brendan
 
Clare Smile said:
Smile Ireland is NOT a Debt Management Company, we do NOT charge fees (even though we could if we wanted to) and we NEVER take client funds through our account. We are a Financial Services company who also offer assistance with Creditors should a client need it.
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Welcome to AAM Clare, I got the impression from the radio programme that you were a company who help people manage their debts, but as I said I wasn't fully listening so I may have misunderstood.

To be clear, for your existing clients, who come to you to invest, if they have debt problems you help them. I'm not well up on financial services companies but I presume you sell products/investments/insurance etc, so someone in financial trouble surely would not come to you as they would not have money to invest?
 
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