Are standards of Scottish trust deed advice acceptable?

29th June 2011

To be able to offer Scottish trust deed advice a company or individual must firstly be licensed. The appropriate type of licence is the Consumer Credit Licence and is issued by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Providing Scottish trust deed advice without one is unlawful.

Any individual or company working in the Scottish trust deed field must abide by the ‘debt management guidance’ issued by the OFT. This guidance is for the benefit of holders of a consumer credit licence as it explains to them the standards they must reach in order to satisfy the expectations of the OFT. Failing to meet these standards could result in the withdrawal of the Consumer Credit Licence, preventing the provision of Scottish trust deed advice in the future.

The ‘debt management guidance’ has been reviewed. It has been updated in line with market developments. It’s also been updated to address weaknesses identified with the provision of Scottish trust deed advice and other debt solutions in a recent review. The reviewed guidance is now subject to a consultation period.

Websites are a particular area of focus in the updated guidance. Anyone surfing the web to find Scottish trust deed advice will have stumbled upon many a website designed to do one thing only... sell you a Scottish trust deed:

• These sites tend to shout about the benefits of a Scottish trust deed but fail to give equal prominence to the drawbacks which apply in certain circumstances.
  
  
• Some of these sites appear to be unlicensed and therefore are potentially operated unlawfully (look for the Consumer Credit Licence number on the website and then check if the website name is listed on the OFT CCL public register). If the domain name isn’t listed as a trading name it’s possible that a licence breach or even an offence is being committed.
  
  
• Some of these websites also appear to ‘compare’ Scottish trust deed providers despite the reality of this concept being complete and utter junk (once the small-print on the site has been read).
  
  
• Many of these websites also present the logos of reputable debt-help trade associations despite not actually being members.
  

The individuals delivering Scottish trust deed advice will also come under greater scrutiny if the consultation remains in its current form. Companies will have to be able to provide evidence which shows their advisers are fully competent in the delivery of debt advice. They will also need to be able to show a system for monitoring the advice is in place.

While the majority of employees of reputable Scottish trust deed providers are fully trained and properly qualified, most Scottish trust deed introducer websites employ unqualified staff. This creates a huge risk that the wrong advice will be delivered which exposes the public to detriment. Professional qualifications have long been available including the Certificate in Debt Resolution. Many reputable organisations have invested in staff qualifications. All of the members of the advice team at Trust-Deed.co.uk have passed these professional exams.

The OFT are obviously working hard to drive up standards of debt help and Scottish trust deed advice. As things stand however the Scottish public must continue to take care to avoid unlicensed websites, unqualified advisers and companies which go all out to ‘sell’ Scottish trust deeds (at a time where calm professional advice and thought is really required).

If you require any further information regarding the qualifications of Scottish trust deed advisers you can call our advice line on 0800 043 7201.

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