Credit card debt legislation not enough
Credit card debt legislation not enough
- Tuesday, 16 March 2010The director of a charity dedicated to providing
help with debt has welcomed government proposals on credit cards but has said that they do not go far enough.
Under the terms of the agreement struck between the government and credit card companies, more expensive debt will be paid off first.
This should enable consumers to both pay off debt more quickly and pay less overall.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown heralded the legislation as part of a policy of "reinventing the financial services industry" and claimed: "These new rights will put an end to irresponsible lending practices that people have been most concerned about".
Chris Tapp, the director of Credit Action, said: "The government, in our view, is taking a step in the right direction but only really a baby step".
He would have liked to see an increase in the minimum credit debt repayment level, as well as a reversal of the current law regarding increases in credit limits.
As it stands, customers have to opt out of credit limit increases, whereas Tapp believes that the opposite should be the case.
While the charity boss does see "substantial progress" in these reforms, there is much more, in his opinion, still to do.
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