Calls to protect Welsh credit consumers

As Gordon Brown assumes the leadership of the government, Mr Opik has urged the new prime minister to help make Wales a more affordable place to live.

“Every two and a half hours, people in Wales have to pay £1million to payoff the interest on their debts, house prices have gone through the roof and bankruptcies and repossessions are rising,” said Mr Opik.

“And we must drive down personal debt levels through quality financial education and measures to protect people from exploitation by credit and loan companies.”

He went on to equate the debt management problems facing Welsh credit consumers with a slowly exploding bomb that is affecting many thousands of people.

In the UK as a whole the personal debt level is rising by around £1 million every four minutes, according to Credit Action’s most recently compiled data.