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England and Wales > Debt Advice > Secondary Debts > What If Creditors Harrass Me?

What If Creditors Harrass Me?

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Harassment (213KB)

If you do not pay a debt, your creditors are allowed to keep reminding you from time to time, but they must not do anything illegal. If they threaten or harass you to try and make you pay, they may be committing a criminal offence.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued new Debt Collection Guidance from July 2003. It sets out the kind of behaviour which the OFT will regard as ‘unfair business practices’. Breaches may call into question the lender’s fitness to hold a consumer credit licence.

The general principles in the guidance are that creditors should not:

communicate with you in an unclear, inaccurate or misleading manner (e.g. use documents made to look like official court documents);
contact you in a deceitful manner (e.g. by misrepresenting the legal position such as pretending to be a bailiff and having the power to remove goods);
put psychological pressure on you to the point of being oppressive (e.g. threatening to tell your neighbours about your debts or repeatedly calling you at home and at work);
use unfair methods (e.g. refusing to negotiate or bypassing your representative and contacting you direct);
levy charges unfairly (e.g. apply unreasonable charges which bear no relation to recovery costs).

If you think you are being treated unfairly, phone us for advice about making a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading.

You can’t be prosecuted in the criminal court because you haven’t paid your debts but some creditors might try to make you think you can – that’s illegal as well.

If you are being harassed in any of these ways tell your local trading standards department or consumer protection department. If you have any queries about whether a creditor is acting legally, contact them. Their phone number and address are in the phone book, under the name of your local council.

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