Below is a comment from Andy Davie, site manager for IVA.co.uk, the UKs biggest online IVA community for information and advice about Individual Voluntary Arrangements, on the experiences of forum members dealing with home visits from creditors. Andy comments:
“The issue of loan sharks is one that emerges again and again on the IVA.co.uk forum. People in serious debt get desperate for money from any source, and ignore the fact that they may be paying over 300% on their debt. If they cannot go to a mainstream bank, then a loan shark may seem the only course of action. It is great that the government is going to make it harder for spurious traders to get licensed, and will force companies to carry out credit checks on anyone that they want to lend money to.
Some people think that the threat of violence and doorstep collection is one limited to dealings with dodgy loan sharks. We however hear of lots of instances where established banks threaten debtors that they will send people round to their house, and repossess their items without any approval from the court. We are confident that these are not tactics condoned by the banks, but rather scare tactics employed by call centre staff intent on gaining their commission.
Debtors using forums such as www.iva.co.uk will quickly see that these are empty threats that call centre staff have no legal right to make or enforce. For debtors without this support, this can be a very frightening experience. We must ensure that banks are aware of tactics used by their staff, and stamp it out immediately.”