Nov
1
Plea for Debt Advice Funding
Filed Under Debt Advice
Consumer affairs minister Gerry Sutcliffe, MP for Bradford South, has asked lenders to put their hands in their pockets so that more free debt advice can be offered.
Speaking at Thursday’s seminar on consumer credit held by the Finance and Leasing Association, Mr. Sutcliffe, who had been expected to talk about the forthcoming white paper on reforming the 1974 Consumer Credit Act, focussed on the government’s desire to empower consumers.
“To provide an effective advice service, we must have a sustainable funding strategy. More needs to be done”, he said. “I would ask that when each of you is approached with the new funding strategy, you consider the benefits that contributing will undoubtedly bring to you as lenders”.
Whilst it is certain that it can be cost effective for lenders to fund debt advisory services, and when managed properly can drastically reduce debt collection costs.
In a year when the number of people with debt problems have rocketed to record levels, advice centres and bureaux have been forced to close or reduce their service because of a lack of funding from central and local government, there is a sense of irony in the plea being made by Mr. Sutcliffe.
