Millions of Britons in need of debt advice due to the coronavirus pandemic could be pushed into unsuitable debt solutions by companies seeking to profit from commission, regulators have warned.
Britain s individual voluntary arrangement market is broken , the Financial Conduct Authority said in a 68-page review into the state of Britain s credit and debt landscape published yesterday morning.
It said commission totalling more than £1,000 handed to third-party lead generators paid to sign up vulnerable Britons and fees of up to £5,000 charged to those in debt had led to potentially harmful business models and poor practices which benefited neither consumers nor their creditors.
The UK s advertising watchdog has banned the adverts of two unregulated lead generators after they were found to have mimicked legitimate debt charities and claimed to be endorsed by the Government.
The websites writeoffmydebt and stepdebtsupport were criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority after a series of complaints by the Government-funded Money and Pensions Service, all of which were upheld.
The ASA declared that the companies behind the websites and online adverts, Stockport-based Fidelitas Group and Burnley-based National Direct Service, had misled visitors to their sites through adverts on search engines by making them think they were dealing with authorised debt counsellors or government-endorsed services.