{"id":2162,"date":"2010-03-23T16:37:08","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T16:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/?p=2162"},"modified":"2019-02-18T16:39:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:39:27","slug":"government-targets-debt-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/government-targets-debt-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Targets Debt Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government has recently published a new consumer White Paper with\n the rather lengthy title \u201cA Better Deal for Consumers: Delivering Real \nHelp Now and Change for the Future\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The measures it sets out aim to help people in financial difficulty. \nSome of the objectives are to keep people in their homes, offer advice \nto people in debt, deal with sharp business practice and help vulnerable\n people cope with essential bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the proposed changes show that the government is determined \nto raise standards and cut out dodgy practices. There is likely to be a \ncomplete ban on credit card cheques which card providers had been \nsending out to customers. Such cheques were often unsolicited and they \nwere generally a more expensive form of credit than just using a credit \ncard and they offered less protection to the consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increases in credit card spending limits without the express \npermission of the consumer may also be banned. Up to 20% of credit card \nusers had their credit limits increased without their consent in the \nlast year. The government sees this sort of practice as contributing to \nirresponsible lending and borrowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White Paper suggests that there should be restrictions on card \nproviders\u2019 ability to raise interest rates on existing debt. It suggests\n that repayments to a credit card account should be allocated more \nfairly and that the practice of repayments being used to pay off the \nleast expensive debt while the high interest bearing debt is left unpaid\n is unfair to the consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government promises to consider introducing a statutory Debt Repayment Plan (DRP) and is to commence consultations shortly. This would be a strengthened alternative to the voluntary Debt Management Plan<\/a> (DMP) currently operating. A Debt Management Plan is an informal and flexible agreement set up by a provider, who re-negotiates repayment terms for a debtor with creditors, so that all payments are consolidated into one affordable monthly payment, which the provider collects and distributes. The DRP scheme being considered would have regulatory teeth. Operators would have to be approved. Interest and charges would cease and court permission would be necessary for enforcement. Creditors could be compelled to participate in such a DRP and debts might have to be partially written off. Balance between the interests of creditors and those of debtors would have to be struck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until such legislation is introduced insolvent debtors in the UK have\n quite a wide choice of financial solutions available to them These \nrange from Administration Orders (debts of less than \u00a35,000), Debt \nRelief Orders (debts of less than \u00a315,000), Debt Management Plans (DMP),\n Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) and of course Bankruptcy.  Each\n of these has its own pros and cons. If you have financial problems and \nparticularly if you may be insolvent, you should acquaint yourself with \nthe full range of financial solutions before opting for any of them. The\n CAB, CCCS and reputable providers of financial services provide free \ninitial consultation and advice. Don\u2019t commit to any of solution until \nyou are satisfied it is right for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government has recently published a new consumer White Paper with the rather lengthy title \u201cA Better Deal for Consumers: Delivering Real Help Now and Change for the Future\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-debt-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2171,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions\/2171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}