Debates between Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord Stoneham of Droxford during the 2010-2015 Parliament

Consumer Rights Bill

Debate between Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord Stoneham of Droxford
Wednesday 5th November 2014

(10 years ago)

Grand Committee
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Lord Stoneham of Droxford Portrait Lord Stoneham of Droxford
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My Lords, my noble friend Lady Bakewell is unable to be here today, but I am sure that she would like me to associate us with the right reverend Prelate’s amendment. There are two questions that we have to ask ourselves. First, if the selling of mortgages over the phone is banned, why should these loans not be banned as well? Secondly, there is a problem with existing debtors—principally, I suspect, because the company selling the loans has phone information. Given how vulnerable these people are, they are likely to be very mobile in terms of their telephone accounts, and therefore this is particularly dangerous for them. For that reason, the Government have to act. I accept the points that the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, very sensibly raised. This is something which seems to have been overlooked and needs action.

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Portrait Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab)
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My Lords, I support these amendments. I very much agree with the comments of the right reverend Prelate and the noble Lord, Lord Deben, in particular. There is a real problem here. People are at home, unemployed and quite vulnerable, and they are being harassed over the phone by these people who are offering them all sorts of deals to sort out their problems. We have to deal with that: it is a really serious problem.

I am a big supporter of the credit union movement. It is not the solution to payday lending but is part of a suite of measures to deal with it. We have to deal with this, and it is right that the Government should act. It is not right that we leave people in this situation, which is completely wrong and intolerable. People can be driven into the hands of very unpleasant organisations that lend them money and allow them to get into a mess. They then offer more deals to round it all up, with a “special offer this week”, and so on. We here are very lucky that we are not in that sort of mess. Some people are having a very terrible time and I think that the Government need to take action against the people responsible.