• Creditors “tougher” on people who owe money
• Households less able to handle debts
• High customer satisfaction with fee charging debt advice.

Creditors are taking a much tougher line with problem debtors who are trying to sort out their financial difficulties, new research from Debt Resolution Forum (DRF) shows.

“Once borrowers try to enter a debt solution, creditors are increasingly taking this as a signal to demand repayment.” says DRF chairman, David Mond.

Rising numbers of troubled borrowers are complaining of calls or visits at unreasonable hours and of notices of legal action once the borrower has sought advice, with a rise also in complaints about higher interest and other charges being levied at the same time.

Elsewhere, DRF’s research shows that “debt resilience” is in decline as UK households are becoming less able to handle their debts as a result of rising living costs. This means they are seeking help at lower levels of indebtedness than had previously been the case.

More encouragingly, problem debtors are increasingly shopping around for the best advice, often via the Internet, and the research showed high levels of optimism as to people’s ability to get on top of their debt problems – about two in five of those questioned described their borrowings as negligible or zero, despite their having sought advice.

The research found also consistently high levels of customer satisfaction with the paid-for debt advice sector, with clients scoring their advisers more than eight out of ten on key questions such as whether they had the client’s best interests at heart and whether they clearly explained the available debt solutions.

The report was undertaken by independent research co-operative Zero-credit on behalf of the Debt Resolution Forum, the professional representative, standard-setting and training body for paid-for debt advisers.

For more information read our 2014 Client Outcomes Research.