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Face the Facts

Factual: Consumer

Original investigations into social injustice, public policy, inefficiency and fraud

Face the Facts: The Loan Cowboys

20/07/2011

The Loan Cowboys

BBC Radio 4 - Face the Facts, The Loan Cowboys

John Waite investigates the debt management firms which have left people worse off.

John Waite investigates how unscrupulous debt management firms offered to help people pay off their debts but left many vulnerable families owing more than ever.

Debt management can be a crucial tool in helping people get to grips with their finances. But some companies have left many of their vulnerable customers owing more than ever. John Waite investigates how these companies offered to help hard-up families ease their debts but held on to their cash, leaving many of them close to the financial edge. 

Debt management companies sprung up in the mid Nineties, offering to save struggling people from the threats of banks and creditors by settling their debts. For a monthly fee, customers believed their debts were being paid off but, as Face the Facts discovers, some companies took advantage of a weak regulatory system and accepted money from their desperate clients without passing it on to the creditors.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

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