Ed

I act for one such client. She got into serious debt on credit cards: the reasons are irrelevant but suffice to say it wasn't through living a luxury lifestyle. As Claire suggests, this lady was out of her mind with worry, she thought she was about to lose her home, and the doc had given her citalopram.

On my advice she has sacked the debt management company (which also charged 20%) and she has appointed me as her debt agent. Do remember that debt management companies are unregulated. Creditors tend to listen to a solicitor, and I think that I have achieved a much better solution for her. She will be out of debt in 4 years, not 9. I am not charging her - there are good reasons for this - in fact I was pleased to help.

My client was not too stupid to manage her own way out. The real problem was that she was so worried she couldn't see the way out. She struggled and struggled, and it took quite a while to make her realise that compared to some of the people I act for, she wasn't that bad.

I mention some I act for - I have another client, a self employed builder, who owes slightly over £100K on credit cards. Yes - £100K. And he has no means of paying it as he has no work. I'm helping him with this, too.

On balance, these companies probably do a useful function, but I see so much of this sort of thing, I can't stand people who prey on the vulnerable.

Ed