Debt charity demands watchdogs stop the imposters

Debt charity demands watchdogs stop the imposters

One of Britain's largest debt advice charities, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), is demanding that regulators crack down on rogue companies. It says they are using its name to lure vulnerable people into taking out expensive and sometimes unnecessary debt repayment schemes.

It says that private companies are masquerading as the CCCS on search engines such as Google and Yahoo to sell loans and lucrative Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVAs) to people who want independent advice from a non profit-making organisation.

Citizens Advice and National Debtline have also complained about brokers and lenders using their names to generate business.

Researchers at Which?, publishers of new book, Managing Your Debt, found that typing "CCCS" into search engines results in a top (paid-for) listing of "cccs - need help?" It's not the charitable adviser, but a company calling itself Credit Card Consolidation Services, which sells IVAs, generating a fee income of as much as £7,000 for each agreement. The site is run by Debt Free Me, based in Blackburn.

The charity CCCS says it has been in contact with Debt Free Me, accusing it of passing off as the charity and breaking advertising rules. It adds it has had several cases of people who are near to bankruptcy and who wanted independent advice, but who found themselves talking to call centre staff at Debt Free Me instead.

A spokeswoman for the charity said it was upset that vulnerable.....continued below

Advertisement starts

---

---

Advertisement ends

people could be misled when trying to find them on the internet. It is compiling a dossier of complaints, which it is sending to the Office of Fair Trading.

Guardian Money contacted Debt Free Me to ask why it paid Google and Yahoo to appear at the top of searches for the CCCS with the message "cccs - need help?"

The company responded that selling loans and IVAs was a "cut throat business" where such practices were common. A spokesman, who refused to give his name or title, said: "We have terrible trouble with companies doing the same thing to us." When asked how much the company paid Google, he put the phone down.

A Google spokesperson said that it would consider complaints about companies passing themselves off as rivals, but its service was open for all clients to use. "Google AdWords enables advertisers to provide targeted information to people actively searching for it online, and is open to organisations, charities and voluntary organisations as well as companies," he said.

The OFT said it was aware of traders using names similar to other organisations and the potential for confusion: "In our consideration of a trader's fitness to hold a consumer credit licence we investigate all complaints and where we have the necessary evidence we do take appropriate action."

· Managing Your Debt, a Which? essential guide (£10.99, p&p free), can be ordered on 01903 828557 or at which.co.uk/books or bought from bookshops.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007