A leading charity has warned of nuisance calls by loan companies adding to the country’s debt problems and said that such calls should be banned. According to a study by StepChange, UK’s leading debt charity, more than half of adults receive calls offering high-cost credit or expensive debt management services. One in eight are called everyday.
The charity says nuisance calls have caused 1.5million people to take out worthless products. People struggling to cope with debt are being pestered by over five calls per week from payday lenders. Following the study, StepChange is appealing to the Financial Conduct Authority to ban unsolicited calls which offer credit. The charity is also asking the Treasury to give extra powers to the Financial Conduct Authority to ban calls promoting fee-charging debt management services.
The study found that over 30 million people received at least one call offering credit or debt management services over the past year. Over 17 million people got a call at least once a week, with a further 6 million getting calls once a day or more. Currently the Financial Conduct Authority is conducting a review of nuisance calls across the consumer credit industry.
