Credit Card Cheques Expected to Face Serious Opposition from UK Government

A new post is being created to help consumers recoup losses from unwanted credit card cheques which have become such a huge problem in the UK in recent years. The cheques are from rogue traders and are expected to be banned in the near future, as well, due to the amount of debt they add to the already staggering debt problem in the UK that has seen so many turning to Individual Voluntary Arrangements (link!) and Bankruptcy (link!).
According to the latest figures coming out of the Bank of England, UK citizens owe loans, credit card debt and overdrafts that total to £233bn.
However, the reaction to the current plans to create a Consumer Advocate are mixed, though the White Paper on its creation outlines the Advocate as a means to raise awareness about the severity of current consumer struggles. It would also act on behalf of groups of the public who are seeking refunds or compensation when the case is judged to be of “national importance”, such as against a substantial and unfair debt from a rogue company.
The government is looking for action to be taking in regard to debt levels during this current recession. They want lenders to be held more accountable for irresponsible practices within their industry because UK credit card debt is again standing at £54.4bn after having been reduced for a short time, months ago.
Credit card cheques have proven to be quite controversial because of the handling fees incurred for using them. These blank cheques are often sent to credit card holders along with their monthly statements as a means of enabling the customer with a different way to spend the funds from their card’s account. If things go awry, these cheques do not offer the same protections as the cards themselves and they almost always do not have an interest free period that the card does, leading to confusion for consumers and thus, increased spending.
Since the government has been expected to ban these cheques for some time now, they will be banning them in order to halt companies from sending unsolicited cheques. This means credit card companies may only offer these to those who have opted in to receive them ahead of time rather than eliminating the option to consumers altogether.
This news follows the announcement from Uswitch, a price comparison website, that states 20% of UK consumers have seen their credit limits rise without asking for such an increase.
Consumer groups have been requesting that there be more help for consumers who believe they have been unfairly treated by companies and as a result, experienced significant financial loss.
The person who will be the Consumer Avocate in the coming year will be an individual comfortable with being involved in representing substantial groups of consumers who seek compensation through the courts and also highly public consumer campaigns. These consumers who feel they have been ripped off will be able to perform group actions against the company named by opting in to the group legal action.

A new post is being created to help consumers recoup losses from unwanted credit card cheques which have become such a huge problem in the UK in recent years. The cheques are from rogue traders and are expected to be banned in the near future, as well, due to the amount of debt they add to the already staggering debt problem in the UK that has seen so many turning to Individual Voluntary Arrangements and Bankruptcy.

According to the latest figures coming out of the Bank of England, UK citizens owe loans, credit card debt and overdrafts that total to £233bn.

However, the reaction to the current plans to create a Consumer Advocate are mixed, though the White Paper on its creation outlines the Advocate as a means to raise awareness about the severity of current consumer struggles. It would also act on behalf of groups of the public who are seeking refunds or compensation when the case is judged to be of “national importance”, such as against a substantial and unfair debt from a rogue company.

The government is looking for action to be taking in regard to debt levels during this current recession. They want lenders to be held more accountable for irresponsible practices within their industry because UK credit card debt is again standing at £54.4bn after having been reduced for a short time, months ago.

Credit card cheques have proven to be quite controversial because of the handling fees incurred for using them. These blank cheques are often sent to credit card holders along with their monthly statements as a means of enabling the customer with a different way to spend the funds from their card’s account. If things go awry, these cheques do not offer the same protections as the cards themselves and they almost always do not have an interest free period that the card does, leading to confusion for consumers and thus, increased spending.

Since the government has been expected to ban these cheques for some time now, they will be banning them in order to halt companies from sending unsolicited cheques. This means credit card companies may only offer these to those who have opted in to receive them ahead of time rather than eliminating the option to consumers altogether.

This news follows the announcement from Uswitch, a price comparison website, that states 20% of UK consumers have seen their credit limits rise without asking for such an increase.

Consumer groups have been requesting that there be more help for consumers who believe they have been unfairly treated by companies and as a result, experienced significant financial loss.

The person who will be the Consumer Avocate in the coming year will be an individual comfortable with being involved in representing substantial groups of consumers who seek compensation through the courts and also highly public consumer campaigns. These consumers who feel they have been ripped off will be able to perform group actions against the company named by opting in to the group legal action.

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