The image most people picture when you say you work in the debt recovery sector is that of ‘burly bailiffs knocking on doors’. Stories like this don’t do anything positive for any of us - including the vast majority of bailiffs. Whilst this is an extreme example, the CAB are saying complaints are on the rise and it’s important that the industry itself quickly addresses this issue. For me there is still too big of a gap between the approaches taken on regulated and non-regulated debt. A debt is debt and customers are customers, so why do we still have two sets of rules, thinking and approaches?
Instead of challenging this, we are feeding it. People within DCA’s now talk about doing non regulated activity. but the time for one set of rules and standards is overdue. However, who and what you do to bring that together looks a significant task, and if the answer is Goverment, it is likely to take more time than it should.
One of the worst cases highlighted by Citizens Advice Ipswich was a mother with depression and anxiety after giving birth who was in arrears with her council tax. The bailiff refused to consider a payment arrangement and told her that if she did not pay up, she would be arrested and her children taken into care.