Beware of 'too good to be true' debt deals, consumers warned

For all but a lucky few, getting out of debt and back onto the financial straight and narrow is a long, hard slog that requires significant sacrifices to be made over an extended period of time.

However, some financial companies have long tried to have consumers believe that it's possible to get back into the black with no real effort other than making a simple phone call and asking some 'expert' to juggle their outgoings for them.

While such a solution is certainly attractive, the realities of debt management are much starker, a fact that the Advertising Standards Agency has reflected in its latest ruling against the claims made by a certain website.

According to the site, credit card debts and even money owed directly to a bank agreed before April 2007 may not have to be repaid, instead being "unenforceable".

Though it is the case that, should lenders not have stuck to the letter of the 1974 Consumer Credit Act, then some agreements may be open to a legal challenge, the ASA ruled that consumers were in danger of being misled by the suggestion that this could cover a majority of debts, thereby getting people's hopes up.

In its ruling, the official watchdog concluded that the website's central claim "was likely to mislead readers as to the likelihood of their debts being written off".

Commenting on the development, a spokesperson for Citizens Advice has suggested that such examples of consumers being encouraged to believe that getting out of the red may be far easier than it actually is, are hardly rare.

She said: "There has been a rash of advertising recently offering an easy way out to people who have credit debts they are struggling to pay. However, people should be aware that usually if something looks too good to be true that’s because it is.

Highlighting the need for a common sense approach, the spokseperson added: "We would urge people in debt to think very carefully indeed before spending money they are unlikely to get back and can ill afford on a 'solution' that in many cases will just make their debt problems worse."

To make matters easier for stressed-out consumers already confused by financial jargon and small-print, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) recently revealed that it had advised its members against accepting business from companies claiming to be able to write off debts and personal loans, with even legal experts adopting a 'too good to be true' view of such offers.