4 September 2012
If you're in debt, you might have received phone calls, letters or emails from your lenders - but what about a social media message?
Late last year, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said that it could strip creditors of their consumer credit license if they tried to chase people for debts through social media - a practice which they say is unfair. This applies to all "debt collectors, banks, law firms and any business associated with debt recovery", according to the BBC.
The OFT have received complaints from people in debt who had been contacted on Facebook and Twitter by debt collectors. The OFT says this was "unfair" because of the public nature of social media sites. Being contacted this way can be embarrassing for people in debt.
If you're on a debt management plan with us, while we can't guarantee that lenders won't contact you at all, but we can offer advice if they contact you in a way that is unfair. Click here to find out more about our debt help.
On a debt management plan
When you begin a debt management plan with us, we can take over contact with your lenders. You can forward any contact from them on to your Personal Finance Manager, who can contact them on your behalf.
According to the BBC, there have been complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) that some lenders will still try to contact people who owe them money, even if a debt management plan is in place. If you're on a debt management plan, you are entitled to ask any lender that does contact you to contact us instead.
A debt management plan is an informal agreement, so you aren't protected legally from contact - but you do have legal rights if you're treated unfairly.
If you're being harassed, or treated unfairly by your lenders (which includes calling you at work, at unreasonable hours, or via social media), they risk losing their credit licence. If anything like this happens while you're on a debt management plan with us, speak to your Personal Finance Manager, because they could help.
Once the agreement is in place, people tend to find that most communication from their lenders stops. It's very rare that lenders would contact someone through social media.
Lucy Bower
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