{"id":287365,"date":"2011-03-03T00:02:38","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T00:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/03\/rogue-credit-firms-in-spotlight\/"},"modified":"2011-03-03T00:02:38","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T00:02:38","slug":"rogue-credit-firms-in-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/03\/rogue-credit-firms-in-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Rogue credit firms in spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n \t\t
\n 2 March 2011<\/span>
\nLast updated at <\/span>19:02 ET<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Unscrupulous credit businesses are cashing in on people’s desperation for loans during tough economic times, a charity has said.<\/p>\n

Fraudsters are making unsolicited offers to find loans for people before charging them hefty up-front fees, Citizens Advice said.<\/p>\n

Loans often failed to materialise and victims were then charged a premium rate when calling to complain.<\/p>\n

Citizens Advice has called on the fair trading regulator to intervene.<\/p>\n

It has submitted a super-complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The regulator now has to give a response within 90 days. <\/p>\n

If the OFT thinks there is a case to answer, then it can decide to launch a full investigation in its own right.<\/p>\n

‘Fertile’<\/span><\/p>\n

Citizens Advice said that current economic conditions provided “fertile ground” for rogue credit businesses, with many households facing financial difficulties.<\/p>\n

The charity said it had spoken to people in England, Wales and Scotland who had been ripped off.<\/p>\n

They had received a text message or telephone call from a firm offering to find them an unsecured loan.<\/p>\n

\n\tContinue reading the main story<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

What is a super-complaint?<\/h2>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n

\t<\/p>\n

A designated consumer group can make a super-complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) if an issue is “significantly harming the interests of consumers”.<\/p>\n

The OFT has 90 days to respond by stating what action, if any, it plans to take on the issue and the reasons behind its decision.<\/p>\n

\t\n\t<\/div>\n

Those who accepted were then charged large up-front fees for little or no service in return.<\/p>\n

Other victims were persuaded to hand over their bank details and later found that money had been taken from their account without their permission.<\/p>\n

Victims struggled to complain, and found that, instead, they were being inundated by calls and text messages offering loans or debt management services from other firms.<\/p>\n

Citizens Advice wants the OFT to ban cold-calling by credit or debt management companies, as well as an end to these companies demanding up-front fees.<\/p>\n

“This problem is set to grow much worse,” said Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice in England and Wales.<\/p>\n

“The framework of consumer protection about unsolicited marketing and up-front fees charged by credit brokers is not only complex, but loopholes give too much room for bad practice to flourish.<\/p>\n

“We believe that the Consumer Credit Act and data protection legislation need to be urgently updated to tackle these problems at root cause.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Read the original post:
\nRogue credit firms in spotlight<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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