New clause 4 - CHANGES IN CREDIT LIMITS
Consumer Credit Bill
6:15 pm
Charles Hendry (Shadow Minister, Trade & Industry; Wealden, Conservative)
We have come from every direction, and we now know that I have finally gone too far. In many ways, I am disappointed by the Minister's response. He referred to the banking code, but the code is still inadequate because there is no requirement to talk to the borrower or the debtor. All the research into finding out whether somebody can afford to repay a higher level of borrowing will simply be based on information that can be obtained from credit rating agencies and other people like that. No check is required to find out whether the person involved thinks it affordable.
The people we are most concerned are those who are most honourable and would not use credit most of the time. However, they will suddenly think that because it is Christmas, they want a holiday, or to buy a present, and because they know that their limit has been extended, they will go and spend beyond it. We have seen some terrible cases. The Minister referred, as did I, to one where someone ultimately committed suicide because they had over-borrowed and had a range of different cards—that leads us to issues of data-sharing, which we will come back to on Report. We know that there were not enough safeguards in place. The Minister says that the banking code has been tightened up since then, but I hope that he would be prepared to go further, and that if he believes the approach is right but the amendment goes too far, we might work with, say, the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye to find an alternative form of words in which to draft a Government amendment on Report. I believe that the whole House wants this issue to be addressed.