Blog Comments & Responses

This is a list of responses and comments to Integrity Debt Solutions blog. The comments and responses are from selected professional bodies, companies and commentators.

Citizens Advice Bureau Facing Cuts- (comment from Emma Bryn-Jones, Business Development Director @ Zero-credit Ltd http://zero-credit.co.uk)

"To pay or not to pay for debt advice is NOT the question. We at Zero-credit respect Integrity Debt Solutions - you are totally transparent about who you are, what you do and share pertinent and informative content through your blog. However, your recent post about CAB cuts concerns us, not so much because you have written it, because we could equally well have read criticism of commercial debt counselling services from the likes of the CCCS. Simply, this feud between commercial and non-commercial debt counsellors has to stop. It is not in debtors' interests.

You are right, of course, that free debt advice is in danger of nearing capacity and increasingly likely to make mistakes as it does so, but this would be the case irrespective of Government cuts. And as good as your services are, errors by the CAB are insufficient to justify an entirely commercial practice - we all know how many unethical debt counsellors there are. Besides, low income debtors need a free service and their numbers will increase in recession.   

The real issue is the extent of unmanageable personal debt in the UK and the fact that despite Credit Action's debt statistics, all we do know for certain about this growing body of consumers are the numbers in debt resolution (whether debt management plans, IVAs or insolvencies) and seeking advice. We remain dangerously unaware of the extent of undeclared problem debt - those who attempt to cope alone, too stigmatised, stressed or set it their borrowing ways to seek support.

Of all the research conducted recently, two pieces stand out: the first by R3 in June 2010 Struggling with debts without help, which suggests that around two thirds of problem debtors struggle alone, the second produced for the Money Advice Trust in December 2010, Demand capacity and need for debt advice in the UK, which suggests that only one in six of those with unmanageable debts seek advice. Both are reputable organisations, but it doesn't take much to work out that whilst reporting the same patterns of consumer behaviour, their figures, six months apart, are significantly at odds. 

The fact is that we simply do not know how many people are struggling with debts in the UK. At Zero-credit, our last estimate was somewhere in the region of 20 million adults. Meanwhile, the commercial advice sector is plagued with charlatans and the charitable sector is overstretched. Amidst squabbles, which are about as effective as the pot calling the kettle black, the struggling consumer is left baffled and bewildered about who to trust. Surely, with one third of the population in difficulty, isn't it high time for co-operation?

Zero-credit is the debtors' coop, sharing creditfree living advice and trading in consumer finance information".