The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) how many people have sought debt management advice in each year since 2010, and (2) how many of those were already in debt.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
These questions have been passed on to the Money Advice Service (MAS). MAS will reply to directly to the Noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which debt management advice takes into account non-financial circumstances of an individual client, and what guidance they issue to those providing such advice about taking those circumstances into account.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
These questions have been passed on to the Money Advice Service (MAS). MAS will reply to directly to the Noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of clients who had received debt management advice who successfully proceeded to the implementation of their chosen solution in each year since 2010.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
These questions have been passed on to the Money Advice Service (MAS). MAS will reply to directly to the Noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each year since 2010, what assessment they have made of the percentage of clients who, once they have received debt management advice and successfully proceeded to implementation, have required further debt management advice in the same financial year.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
These questions have been passed on to the Money Advice Service (MAS). MAS will reply to directly to the Noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria they use to analyse the effectiveness of debt management advice.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
These questions have been passed on to the Money Advice Service (MAS). MAS will reply to directly to the Noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for a mandatory fee model whereby Financial Conduct Authority authorised debt management firms charge a set fee for debt management plans; and what assessment they have made of how to prevent debt management companies from making additional charges.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Government has fundamentally reformed the regulation of the debt management market, transferring responsibility to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) more robust regime to better protect consumers.
Any consideration of the state of the debt management market should properly await the outcome of the FCA’s authorisation assessment of commercial debt management firms, which is expected in the coming months.
FCA rules make it clear that fees charged for debt management plans should not undermine the customer’s ability to make significant repayments to the customer’s lenders throughout the duration of the debt management plan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the use of (1) monthly fee debt management plans; (2) percentage fee debt management plans; and (3) a combination of set fee and percentage debt management plans.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Government has fundamentally reformed the regulation of the debt management market, transferring responsibility to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) more robust regime to better protect consumers.
Any consideration of the state of the debt management market should properly await the outcome of the FCA’s authorisation assessment of commercial debt management firms, which is expected in the coming months.
FCA rules make it clear that fees charged for debt management plans should not undermine the customer’s ability to make significant repayments to the customer’s lenders throughout the duration of the debt management plan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Financial Conduct Authority’s thematic review Quality of debt management advice.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Government is concerned about problems in the debt management market, including the quality of advice which was highlighted by the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) thematic review.
This is why we reformed debt management regulation, transferring responsibility to the FCA’s more robust regime to better protect consumers. The FCA has put in place binding standards on firms and has a strong enforcement toolkit to take action against firms if these rules are broken.
The FCA is currently scrutinising debt management firms as part of its authorisation process. Firms which do not meet the required standards will not be able to continue to provide debt management services.