Open Letter to Consumer Agencies

Debt on our Doorstep today responded to the Personal Finance Research Centre, National Consumer Council, Advice UK, and Citizens Advice who have been actively lobbying against our proposed amendment to the Consumer Credit Bill. In advance of the second reading of the Bill in the Lords, a joint letter was sent by these agencies to all Peers. The letter expressed concerns that interest rate ceilings could affect the availability of 'affordable credit' and that they should therefore be opposed.

Debt on our Doorstep regrets the intervention, which is based on a lack of knowledge of our amendment and position. We are unclear why the agencies felt the need to make their intervention without consulting us. By publishing an open response to the letter, we hope to bring the debate into the public arena and ensure that member organisations of Advice UK and Citizens Advice are aware of the position of their national bodies on this matter. We invite agencies to discuss how we can move forwards with a common agenda to protect low income consumers in the credit market following the excellent fair finance conference held earlier this month.

A full copy of our open letter is available here.

The text of the original letter is available here

For an excellent review of the current debate on interest rate ceilings by the Griffiths University's Centre for Credit and Consumer Law (Australia) please click here