ARTICLE...
DBSG Defends Rights
A disaster could be looming on the horizon, with plans under discussion to abolish a collections agency's right to consult the edited electoral roll to trace gone-away debtors.
The CSA and DBSG state that this wouldn't help protect consumers at all, but would mean a greater number are caught up in the process – innocence victims of ineffective mis-traces.
The statement was part of a response to the MoJ's consultation – Electoral Registers Proposed changes to the Edited Register – which suggested the collectors' rights to consult the register should be rescinded.
There has already been a strong response from across the industry, which has warned such changes would have an unprecedented impact, completely missed by the Walport Report, the data sharing review which formed the foundation of the consultation itself.
Dr Roger Lucas, President of the CSA, explained: "The debt collection industry cannot under any circumstances agree to the abolition of the edited electoral register.
"Indeed, we want access to the FULL electoral register as the only immediate answer to reducing the number of mis-trace cases. Abolition of the edited register, without access to the full register, would only serve to increase fraud, exacerbate incidences of mis-trace and add huge costs to the collections process that would ultimately be met by the consumer through increased borrowing charges."
Claire Aynsley, the CSA's head of membership, compliance and educational services also outlined the importance of the edited register to the industry. She said: "It is the most effective way of successful tracing of debtors who have either mistakenly or deliberately forgotten to advise their creditors of a new address."
The CSA has argued that it is illogical to allow the register to be used to help get people into debt but not help them back out. Claire added: "This alone is a compelling argument to allow our industry to maintain access to this data."
The CSA's formal response outlines that the abolition of the register will play straight into the hands of the increasing number of 'won't pay' debtors. Instead of allaying any fears of registering, the abolition will make it easy for those who have 'forgotten' they have a moral obligation to repay their debts – they will be more difficult to trace and could slip through the net.
Recent figures collected by the CSA show their members carried out more than 15 million traces in 2008. In addition, of the 20 million cases referred to them for collection, almost half related to absconded or unknown debtors.
Dr Lucas added: "The collections industry, an industry that is repeatedly challenged in the media – would be severely handicapped by the proposed abolition.
"The vacuum created by the removal of this quality data would leave this industry and its regulators open to critics as a result of the inevitable and unavoidable increase in mis-tracing resulting from the use of manual, paper based alternatives open to fraud and error."
