Treasury aims to tackle ‘Farepak-style scandals’

Many of those people who lost substantial amounts of money when Farepak went into administration last October subsequently fell victim to loan sharks and the government is keen to ensure this situation does not arise again.

To this end, Mr Balls has outlined plans to provide greater support for credit unions around Britain, which it is hoped will be able to provide more suitable credit arrangements for the public, including thousands looking to find a debt solution.

“The Treasury also recently announced an extra £6 million for the supply of affordable loans to those on low incomes by third sector lenders, such as credit unions,” said Mr Balls.

“This year we will run a consumer awareness campaign on Christmas saving schemes and mainstream alternatives and we have allocated £1 million to the Office of Fair Trading accordingly,” he added.

Figures released by Credit Action earlier this month that total consumer credit lending to British individuals had totalled in excess of £210 billion during February of this year alone.