Monday 9th June, 2008 

A concerned Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) issued a statement stating that they did not send text messages to thousands of people offering help with debt management related problems.

The text message was written in such a way as it mislead the recipient into thinking that the sender was somehow related to the CAB or the CAB themselves. It read "Citizens Advice Bureau will talk to 6,600 people today with a debt problem. Do you need debt advice? Reply TALK to receive a call from a friendly advisor." This message was circulated to people living in Staffordshire and when they responded to the text they received a call from a company offering them help with IVA's, debt management plans and debt consolidation loans.

Trading Standards have cautioned people to be more thoughtful about replying to unsolicited texts, advising those who need help with their debt to contact more reputable organisations.

Debwatchdog see companies who use these marketing tactics as undermining the confidence in the debt management industry. We back Trading Standards advice and would go further and demand that this type marketing should be banned. Only last week a member of DW staff received an automated call asking if they had any debt they should press 1 and they would be put through to an advisor!

Debtwatchdog urges anyone who is considering seeking out help from a debt management company to do a little research about them before speaking to them. If you have question about avrious debt comapnies ask them on our debt forum