How to Find A Professional Debt Advisor

Are the qualifications of someone offering debt advice enough?

When looking for a professional debt advisor, you should bear in mind that all qualifications are not equal. Someone who has been the right credentials and experience can provide the right debt advice and debt solutions you need. For a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner, who provide consumer debt advice and help, the route to qualification is a long one.

Read below for what regulatory framework and industry standards exist, what schemes you should be aware of and what options are available for consumers when having difficulties existing debt advice providers.

Professional Debt Advice - What to look out for?

Insolvency Practitioners (have to be legally licensed in the UK), and are able to offer a full range of debt advice and solutions. They undergo a lengthy and intensive examination period, which include years of experience handling debt related issues and case studies. It's not something that just anyone can buy off the shelf and requires dedication and commitment to their profession.

But just having the background knowledge and experience is not enough. As the debt advice profession is highly regulated it means that Insolvency Practitioners are regularly audited by external bodies, particularly when they are members of trade bodies or associations who also perform evaluation audits.

Ultimately though, Practitioners are still accountable to their clients. If a client is not satisfied with the debt help they have received by a UK debt advice professional, they will have the right to make a complaint to financial services regulatory bodies, like the Financial Ombudsman and trade bodies which the professional is licenced under.

What checks can you make?

Apart from accuracy of the debt advice you receive, what about the quality of the service or whether the advisor really has the client's best interests or their company's interests at heart.

Debt service checklist

Here are a few of the important things you need to look out for when deciding to use a debt advice service:

Who is going to be delivering the debt advice or debt solution;

Is it speaking to someone in a Call Centre reading a script with a pre-determined set questions and answers, who works for a firm, or;

A qualified and experienced debt management advisor like an actual licensed insolvency practitioner?

It's important clients can directly access the insolvency practitioner providing them debt advice and who is making judgements on their particular situation. It makes sense that if debt professionals have an open door policy for clients, the client can truly appreciate the value of accessing debt advice and being able to fully understand the right debt advice options and potential solutions; whether that's simply debt advice, a debt solution like a debt management plan (DMP), or a formal solution like an IVA or individual voluntary arrangement or bankruptcy, for their own specific debt problem.

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