CAB Independent Advice...NOT!

Mark7799

It may be one that you can't answer (or wouldn't want to in a forum) but WHY do you think you weren't given good advice.

As an aside on the impartiality issue, when I was a manager in NatWest, one of my part-time staff was also a volunteer debt advisor with the town CAB. Part of her brief was that if a client came to the CAB and said they also dealt with NatWest, she was not allowed to deal with them in the CAB because of a possible conflict of interest.

royboy1

"A comprehensive guide - Help with financial problems - is available on
our website and from branches. We also support independent money advice
networks. These include the Money Advice Trust and the Consumer Credit
Counselling Service (a national charity offering free money advice). We meet
regularly with members of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux
to ensure we are aware of any concerns and trends."

This is taken from Lloyds 2004 Corporate Responsibility report so clearly they should be only available in branches of the bank or from the web. Having said that the actual content is pretty fair if naturally geared to Lloyds customers. I personally cannot see why an Advisor would give out this booklet as it is not linked to the CAB.

Without knowing if the OP has actually seen an Advisor it seems rather rash for Venus to claim insensitivity. All I know is that the OP has visited 2 CAB's and been given some booklets. By whom? Maybe there were no appointments available and a receptionist gave some information to read until such time an appointment was available.

An appointment would give the person 45 minutes to explore the problems and come up with an agreed and appropriate course of action. Booklets really are a side issue when dealing with these problems. FREE, IMPARTIAL advice is available to EVERYONE who needs it. Such is the pressure on CAB's in some areas that turning up very early in the morning is the only way to guarantee seeing an Advisor. We all can only do our best.

IN_LIKE_EVERYONE_ELSE!

I am not one to be picky.............

royboy1 wrote:

This is taken from Lloyds 2004 Corporate Responsibility report so clearly they should be only available in branches of the bank or from the web.

Does it mention Lloyds, are they a bank?

IN_LIKE_EVERYONE_ELSE!

There is no escaping the fact that the booklets and handouts are sponsored by Banks and other financial institutions.

To quote my old school motto:

" He who bites the hand that feeds him, usually licks the boot that kicks him"

I can sympathise with RoyBoy and 1313, bloody awkward situation.

I think the CAB are great, it's a shame they get their handouts from the dealers.

I called a mate who works for CAB, he checked one of the handouts on debt, it clearly states on the back of Dealing With Your Debts, a booklet given out by my friend and his colleagues, Supported by Nat West and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

In black and white my friend.

royboy1

Some booklets certainly are sponsored noone is disputing this. I shall state once again that booklets are not what the CAB are about. The idea is that people get face to face advice and help for 45 minutes in one session. This is usually enough to get the ball rolling and the problem initially addressed.

They can then return for further help, phone calls made, letters written etc or book to see a specialist at a later date.

Most people don't even get a booklet. We don't have that many as they are expensive and we are on a very tight budget.

I think the CAB are great, it's a shame they get their handouts from the dealers.

This rather suggests that banks are the only bad guys and noone in debt should shoulder any responsibility for their predicament. Is that right ILEE?

jobbingmusician

As I run a charity, I am finding this thread very interesting. I'm not so interested about how the CAB usually deliver their advice face to face (which I am sure they do) since one of the interesting things to me is how these booklets are being perceived - if you hand out a booklet you never know how many sets of hands it is going to be passed on to. And I would like to be able to design helpful booklets which don't confuse the reader (even if the reader isn't the person who's been into our offices, or contacted us on the phone).

For the record, I would imagine that these are CAB booklets - but obviously I don't have one in front of me. If the cover says that the booklet is a CAB booklet, then it is clear to me that the reader should contact the CAB for further advice. It would be quite normal for a charity such as the CAB to find sponsorship to print booklets from the commercial sector, and this does NOT mean that the booklet is not impartial.

Having said that, I aim to learn from this thread - I will try to remember to spell this out (the impartiality, I mean) on future publications by my charity which are sponsored by the private sector

1313

Mark7799 wrote:

It may be one that you can't answer (or wouldn't want to in a forum) but WHY do you think you weren't given good advice.

As an aside on the impartiality issue, when I was a manager in NatWest, one of my part-time staff was also a volunteer debt advisor with the town CAB. Part of her brief was that if a client came to the CAB and said they also dealt with NatWest, she was not allowed to deal with them in the CAB because of a possible conflict of interest.

I never said that I was not given good advice (I got good advice). Impartial advice is excellent, but when accompanied by bank sponsored material the purity of the advice is then flawed.

1313

jobbingmusician wrote:

For the record, I would imagine that these are CAB booklets - but obviously I don't have one in front of me. If the cover says that the booklet is a CAB booklet, then it is clear to me that the reader should contact the CAB for further advice. .

No where on either booklet cover does it say CAB. I can send you a copy of the covers if you want.

jobbingmusician

I believe you! So it does look as if when it says 'contact us' it might be the bank...hmmmm...

*jobbingmusician is busy extrapolating hints about how to present a sponsored leaflet*

Fran

Who gave you the booklets? The one with the link is not a CAB publication but a Lloyds one. What about the first one?