Desperate debtors risk all with secured loans

Habitual viewers of daytime television will have seen Carol Vorderman in adverts, cashing in on her mathematical prowess on Channel 4’s Countdown to promote secured loans. Her sales pitch for Firstplus, a division of Barclays, has prompted several protests by campaign groups. The reason why she gets such criticism is that secured loans are often taken out by people in financial distress.

Managing your Debt, a new book published by Which?, warns that demand for secured loans is growing rapidly as homeowners search for solutions to their debt problems. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), a debt advice charity, has seen a sharp rise in the last year in the number of homeowners getting into problems after signing up for a secured loan.

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