Jun/090
Ministry of Justice warns Consumers about debt write-off ’scams’
Consumers have today been told that trying to get debts written off can be dangerous. The Ministry of Justice say hundreds, if not thousands, of claims management firms are charging ever-increasing up-front fees, and making misleading suggestions about the chances of success.
Steve Sharrock, who is an oil engineer from the North West of England, got a call from a company who told him there was a 99.9% chance that they could get his credit card debts written off entirely. Anyone could be forgiven for falling for this ‘con’ as it sounds like too good an opportunity to miss.
But after paying a fee upfront of £275, Mr Sharrock never heard from the company again. “It’s just a scam,” he told the BBC.
Consumer-Help.co.uk have found that Keith Park Solicitors based in Merseyside have achieved considerable success in this field and do not charge a fee.
Jun/090
Consumers Given False Information over Credit Card and Loan Claims
A warning on credit card and loan write-offs has been issued by the government.
The Ministry of Justice said that firms had been and still are misleading consumers, telling them that they can exploit legal loopholes to wipe out their debts. Booklets and leaflets from some companies openly state that various bits of technical information in credit card and loan agreements are in breach of the Consumer Credit Act.
However, this often turns out not to be the case, leaving clients - who commonly pay large signing-on charges to the firm - out of pocket. Sue Edwards, head of consumer policy at the Citizens Advice Bureau, told the BBC that the possibility of managers being able to achieve a debt write-off for customers is “possibly quite slim”.
The Ministry of Justice, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Financial Services Authority organised a meeting which was held in London at the start of this month and at the top of the agenda was ways of tightening the rules for the firms.
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