Advice provided by some fee-charging debt management firms is "unacceptably" poor, the City regulator has concluded.
Examples included a debt plan that would take 125 years to pay off, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said. Debt management firms gather all of a customer's debts and pay back the creditors on their behalf, taking a fee each month. A trade body said individual firms were facing "a tough examination" from the FCA, and scores would shut as a result.

'Last resort'

The FCA examined the operations of debt management firms over the course of the year to May to test whether they were treating customers fairly. It concluded that, among firms that charged a fee for the service, "far too many are not meeting the standards we expect". Vulnerable customers were encouraged to buy products and services that were not suitable for them and actually made it more difficult to repay their debts. "People who turn to debt management firms do so as a last resort," said Linda Woodall, of the FCA......Read more here