The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has advised doorstep lenders to improve their practices, those considering a debt management plan (DMP) have been told.
This week the OFT said that it had posted more than 50 warning letters to help improve standards within the doorstep lending sector.
"We are working to improve practices in the industry to protect vulnerable consumers … We strongly encourage borrowers to shop around for the cheapest and most suitable credit product available to them," Ray Watson, director of the OFT’s Consumer Credit Group, said.
During the past year, the organisation has discovered that over half of all people applying for a home collected credit licence did not convince the group that they would give customers the right credit documentation and information.
To deal with this, the OFT has posted the letters, which give applicants and credit licence holders three months to come up with documentation that proves they are following the rules laid out by the Consumer Credit Act, or aim to do so.
In addition, the OFT recently revealed a strategy to protect UK consumers who shop online.