News release
Contact:
Natalie Hale
PR Executive, UK & Ireland
+44 (0) 115 992 2645 Tel
natalie.hale@uk.experian.com Email
Experian welcomes D-Day for ‘credit repair’ companies
Nottingham, UK, 28 September 2008 - Experian®, the global information services company, has welcomed the introduction of new powers that will help protect consumers from ‘credit repair’ companies. Reforms introduced by the Consumer Credit Act 2006 mean that, from 1st October 2008, anyone providing credit repair services will need a specific consumer credit licence from the Office of Fair Trading and will be required to satisfy tough new competency tests.
Many credit repair firms entice people who cannot get credit through legitimate means by making false or misleading claims about removing adverse information from credit reports. Fees for these services typically run into hundreds of pounds, often preying on people in financial difficulty.
Experian and the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) set up a cross-industry working group on credit repair in 1999. The group has done much to educate consumers about the damage some credit repair companies cause, and has lobbied for legislation to help protect vulnerable consumers.
James Jones, Consumer Education Manager at Experian, commented: “We are delighted with the new powers, which should help protect vulnerable consumers by stopping them from falling into the credit repair trap. If information on a credit report can be altered or deleted, credit reference agencies like Experian will do this for free. People should be extremely wary of any company claiming to be able to erase accurate information from a credit report. It simply cannot be done and if a service sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Stephen Sklaroff, Director General of the FLA, added:
“Consumers need to think carefully before using credit repair companies. These reforms will introduce some much needed governance.”
ENDS
About the Finance and Leasing Association
The FLA is the leading trade association for the asset, consumer and motor finance sectors in the UK. In 2007 FLA members did £94.5 billion of new business. £28.8 billion was provided to the business sector and UK public services, representing almost 28% of all fixed capital investment in the UK last year (excluding real property and own-account software). The remaining £65.7 billion was provided to the consumer sector, representing almost 30% of all unsecured lending in the UK in 2007. FLA members provided £19.0 billion of motor finance in 2007 and financed more than 50% of all new car registrations in the UK.
For further media information, please contact:
Edward Simpson, FLA
T: 020 7420 9654 E: edward.simpson@fla.org.uk
M: 07918 766 991