Scottish Trust Deed Expert Receives Debt Texts Himself!

Readers of our Scottish trust deed forum may have been amused to read a recent forum post by Mark McFadyen. Mark, who has been working in the insolvency and Scottish trust deed field for 25 years, is one of the experts featured on Trust-Deed.co.uk. He is personally receiving unsolicited text messages to his mobile phone telling him “about new government legislation to write off debts”. One of our own advice team got the same text on Friday last week.

Of course Mark is pretty aware of the legislation surrounding insolvency or a Scottish trust deed, so it seems pretty unlikely that he has offered his mobile phone number to a potential source of advice. The irony of him receiving such text messages might be mildly amusing, but this shouldn’t obscure the darker side of this situation. Someone, probably unlawfully, is using his personal details to market services such as the provision of a Scottish trust deed without his permission or request.

These types of unsolicited text messages, phone calls, and emails, are received by millions of people on a regular basis. It’s not just debt solutions like a Scottish trust deed that they are pushing. Many people also get hassled by these contacts in connection to personal injury claims or PPI claims or payday loans. In response to the annoyance that this is causing, the well-known debt charity CCCS has been running a Twitter campaign about unsolicited debt texts (using the hash-tag “#debttext”) to try to measure just how widespread this malpractice is.

The media are now taking an interest, and a significant story on the subject featured on the BBC News website this weekend. Apparently one person received 90 text messages from debt help companies and potential lenders on Christmas Day alone.

The Information Commissioners Office (who are responsible for data protection issues) have made dealing with this a high priority. They are concerned that some of the texts are connected to organised crime and have targeted some premises to exercise search warrants.

What should you do if you are considering a Scottish trust deed and you receive one of these unsolicited text messages? The advice is extremely clear; ignore it altogether:

• Could someone you don’t know be aware that a Scottish trust deed makes sense for you?
• Why would you expose yourself to a company that may be acting unlawfully?
• Replying may increase the value of your number (because they now know it’s real) and mean you get more and more texts.
• Our Scottish trust deed forum contains many stories from people who have fallen foul of cold-callers and unsolicited text message senders.

There are a number of options open to you if you are resident in Scotland and are worried about your debts. Sequestration, the Debt Arrangement Scheme or a Scottish trust deed may be appropriate for you if debt repayments have become unaffordable. Whatever the end-result, it’s extremely important that you first find a competent source of advice. They will provide you with information that will help you to make an informed decision about your future.

Our Scottish trust deed forum may be helpful to you in this respect, or you may choose to approach a local Money Adviser for one-to-one detailed debt advice. Actual providers of Scottish trust deed services are subject to more regulation and control than most intermediaries, so they are also an option to approach directly. The key point however is never to accept help (regarding a Scottish trust deed or any other debt solution, claim or loan) from the sender of an unsolicited text message or a cold-caller.

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