CCR2 Wave of debt
A sharp edge
The industry and society must learn lessons: every human crisis will have its abusers, so be aware
Anthony Sharp Proprietor, Anthony Sharp Associates
asa.associates@
virgin.net
These unprecedented times of crisis in which we are living are increasing enormously serious debt problems for both the commercial and consumer sector. In this short article I wish to focus on consumer debt. Fortunately there are a number of
important facilities both in place and about to be launched that will hopefully greatly assist those genuine individuals whose finances have been severely affected by the Covid 19 virus; one of which is of course the Breathing Space coming in early next year; others include the various actions being taken by the FCA. Government has promised additional
funding for free-to-client debt advice, which should help as indeed the debt advice sector has been badly affected. I do not believe we have yet seen anything like the peak of demand that will hit this hard-pressed sector. I am in full support of all help and
assistance that can be given by all sectors in our industry to individuals who genuinely fall into financial difficulties now and in the future as a result of this horrible virus. However I am also concerned that none
of us, in whatever sector we work, forget that there are plenty of sharks out there who see this crisis as a juicy and easily obtainable meal. We need to ensure that there are proper
safeguards, checks and balances in place to combat this very real threat. Such abuse is always present in any crisis where human beings are involved so it is not new. Let us be aware and build into our
policies the necessary precautions to prevent the balance of approach being skewed. Let us cast our mind back to the PPI scandal. It is well known that most banks gave up checking the validity of many claims and
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just paid out. It was all going to cost too much to introduce and was likely to bring even more criticism upon their heads for creating the scandal in the first place. This is different, but such safeguards are
vitally important whether this involves justified conditions – such as Breathing Space- evidence or good conversations. Automated systems that profess to validate claims for you will not be sufficient on their own. It will be even more important for all
sectors to work closely together to outwit the dishonest and those companies that target the vulnerable. The industry must present a professional approach at all times. If you let your guard down then the news
will travel fast and the scams and invalid claims for help will multiply very quickly. Of course fraudulent activity will take up more time and add to your costs, but in the end the effort will be worthwhile. Those who deserve and need help from our industry should always receive it but the
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organisation that simply opens its doors to all comers without appropriate checks and balances will be exploited. It will be the genuine debtor in financial difficulties who ultimately will be the victim. I wish the industry every success at this
important and very difficult time. The genuine debtor will respect a professional approach provided its need is explained properly to them. CCR2
It will be even more important for all sectors to work closely together to outwit the dishonest and those companies that target the vulnerable. The industry must present a professional approach at all times
September 2020
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