Martin Lewis calls for strict new rules for UK households and says 'people are overwhelmed'

The consumer champion and ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show star has led the calls today (Thursday December 14).

Martin Lewis has urged stronger rules are needed to prevent borrowers who are behind on their payments from being overwhelmed with correspondence chasing their debts. The consumer champion and ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show star has led the calls today (Thursday December 14).

Mr Lewis said: "When done well, contact from creditors can help people to understand how much they owe and gives guidance and assurance about what they need to do next. But some people are being swamped with phone calls, texts and letters from multiple creditors a day - that leaves them feeling overwhelmed and harassed, feeling unable to ever escape the situation."

The research, funded by the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, involved a YouGov survey of more than 2,000 adults across the UK in October. It looked at people's experiences of falling behind on consumer credit payments, such as credit cards and buy-now-pay-later payments, since February 2022.

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The survey indicated that one in 10 (10%) people are currently behind on consumer credit payments. A quarter (24%) of people who have missed payments said they are contacted by their creditors every one to two days. Some people with multiple debts reported receiving several letters, emails or calls each day.

Nearly half of people who are behind on payments said they feel harassed (49%) or overwhelmed (48%) by the volume of contact they receive from creditors. One participant said: "Phone calls, receipt of emails and letters demanding repayment sent my anxiety levels through the roof and increased the severity of my depression."

Mr Lewis added: "There's no silver bullet for these issues, but stopping a never-ending overflow of messages to people about their missed payments would make a big difference in reducing the stress that too many people are under - hopefully helping them manage the situation better too."

Conor D'Arcy, interim chief executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, said: "Our evidence suggests that there is a tipping point where the volume of messages people get from creditors goes from being helpful to harmful." Mubin Haq, chief executive of the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, said: "There is a real risk that we are dangerously overloading people who are behind with their credit payments. High levels of contact from creditors are negatively impacting people's mental health.

"Action is needed on a number of fronts and that includes placing legal limits on the number of times creditors can contact people about missed payments."