Urgent action needed to stop lenders bombarding people who've missed payments, say Martin + charity

MSE_Molly_G

Charity the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) and its chair, founder and core funder Martin Lewis are calling for the Government to make changes to prevent firms causing unnecessary distress to those already under strain.

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Urgent action needed to stop lenders bombarding people who've missed payments, say Martin Lewis

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la531983

How dare they write to people to ask for the money they are entitled to be asking for. Shocking state of affairs. 

MattMattMattUK

I think this is one of those, admittedly rare cases, where Lewis is wrong. If people have mental health issues there is already the Breathing Space scheme, that can be used by those suffering mental health issues. The idea that people who miss payments can just opt out of being notified and chased for overdue payments, outside of the specific framework provided by the Breathing Space scheme seems wrong. 

diinozzo

ML has out used his usefulness. Smoke and mirrors.

la531983

Maybe it would be better if they bombard people with phone calls and home visits instead.....

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Isn't this on the wrong board? 

Edited to add, it's been moved. 

[Deleted User]

By not bombarding those people it leaves the door even wider open for those that lament "i didn't get any letters/emails/texts/calls".
If you've had the money - you must pay it back - and in a timely manner.

sourcrates

I think the idea behind this is to stop the frequency of unnecessary collection activity, not all collection activity.

Hounding someone for payment on a twice daily basis is more likely to draw a negative reaction than a positive one.

Basically its counter productive to be so aggressive in your approach, generally speaking, you are paid usually only once a month, and normally at or near month end, so one monthly reminder letter or call would be acceptable.

The issue is lenders/debt collectors go way too far, and initiate computer automated dialling, every day, or twice a day in some cases, and letters demanding payment on a weekly basis.

They can`t pay what they don`t have, its simple maths.

Now when your struggling through a cost of living crisis, and your mental health isn`t great, this can drive people up the wall, especially as most only have the one opportunity a month to pay, having to explain that multiple times to multiple call handlers, on a daily basis, just gets debilitating.

The breathing space scheme isn`t fit for purpose, as its only for 60 days, which when your deep in debt, is nothing, the debt collection process is fundamentally biased towards debtors who may only have missed one or two payments, and may owe less than 5k and are usually those in society that can least afford to catch up.