Finger points at banks over high debt levels |
|
|
|
Published
:
Mon, 21 Mar 2005 01:00
|
Rising personal debt levels in UK have prompted for an immediate call for stringent laws to check banks from encouraging customers to take on too much debt.
With about 15m people and more being under debt, the report by Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach, lashed out at banks and credit card companies for allowing such a circumstance to arise. He said that it was only on account of their aggressive and irresponsible marketing strategies that the debt levels had reached an all time high, where Britons collectively owed more than £1 trillion as unsecured personal loans and other debts.
| This had placed Britons in a very precarious situation and had made them highly susceptible to economic fluctuations, like an oil price hike or interest rate rise which could disable them from repaying their debts.
The report by Lord Griffiths called for a Statutory Charter to replace the Voluntary Banking Code, which would effectively supervise marketing of loans by banks and ensure that credit card charges were made sufficiently clear to customers. This would help to arrest the escalating levels of personal debt in the country.
Griffiths further went on to say that impersonal ways of banking had also led to distrust among customers and a face to face interaction between the bank and the customers was seriously lacking. Also, it was necessary to devise ample and competent means to protect customers against aggressive marketing.
Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin who commissioned the report appreciated the report’s suggestion saying that it addressed a rather serious problem and hence, its statements and implications would definitely be considered.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
