Debt collection business ‘booming’

Press, 14 October 1986, Page 2

Debt collection business ‘booming’

PA Wellington Debt collection is booming and needs to be more controlled, says the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Mrs Shields.

“No licences, regulations or code of ethics govern the business,” she said yesterday. "This is something the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, when fully established, will be looking into.”

People from all walks of life were getting into credit trouble, Mrs Shields told the Naenae Labour Party. Tactics used by companies to delay paying bills, considered unscrupulous five years ago, had become accepted practice, filtering through to personal accounting, she said.

"Business is booming for the nation’s debt collectors. They claim their services are becoming part of normal business. “The image of debt collectors being giant thugs with dogs and baseball bats persists despite the fact that most modern debt collectors run computerised businesses and pursue debtors through a planned, step-by-step legal process,” she said. “There is, however, no doubt that both methods do exist.”