R3 backs OFT in debt management report
Insolvency trade body R3 provides the Office of Fair Trading with information regarding the lack of objective advice given to debtors
The
Office
of Fair Trading (OFT) was backed by insolvency practitioners in its report
that many debt advice businesses do not provide objective advice.
In the report, published this week, debt advice companies told the OFT that
they provided “impartial information” on various debt products, including
obtaining free advice from organisations such as the National Debtline Payplan.
However, insolvency practitioner (IP) trade body
R3 told the
OFT
that 84% of IPs who work in the personal insolvency industry said they had seen
debtors, previously in debt management plans, who had not received impartial
advice on alternative options.
Ray Watson, director of the OFT’s Consumer Credit Group, said: “The level of
non-compliance we found across the industry is unacceptable. If any of the 129
firms identified do not improve their standards substantially they will be the
subject of licensing action by the OFT.”
Further reading:
Corporate
insolvencies to fall in third quarter
Coastal
cities have highest personal insolvency figures
