Credit card clampdown 'could boost debt management'
Credit card clampdown 'could boost debt management'
Monday 23rd March 2009
Becky Boden-Wilks, spokesperson at the Money Advice Trust, said that the new measures to ban unsolicited credit card cheques and prevent borrowing limits being raised automatically represent a positive step for consumers.
She explained that by making credit cards less "accessible" and taking away the temptation to borrow more, the measures "might help change people's attitudes towards credit".
"It is real money that you are spending at the end of the day and it is real money that does need to be paid back at some point," Ms Boden-Wilks commented.
Earlier this week, Gordon Brown told consumer advice groups that a package of measures to address the nation's unmanageable burden of credit card debt is on the way.
With a white paper on updating consumer rights due to be published in the summer, the prime minister said that "very bad practices" such as the sending of unsolicited credit card cheques will be eradicated.
Mr Brown also revealed that the government is currently evaluating the provision of debt advice and ways of offering consumers greater protection from fraud.
Commenting on the measures, Ms Boden-Wilks urged people to seek debt help as soon as they find themselves in financial difficulty.
"At the moment there are lots of redundancies [and] there are lots of people feeling the effects of the recession," she commented.
"Get advice as soon as possible - the earlier you seek advice, the more options you have."
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