Martin Lewis calls for urgent action on debt collectors as millions feel ‘harassed’ and ‘suicidal’

Around half of people facing debt in the cost of living crisis have had suicidal thoughts in the last 20 months, stark research has revealed.

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, the charity founded by Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis, has found that 2.5 million people feel “harassed” by the calls, texts and messages they receive from creditors.

One in 10 adults in the UK are currently behind on consumer credit payments as the pressures of the cost of living crisis drive more people into debt, according to the charity. This represents 5.2 million people – an increase of 1.5 million since November 2022.

The research looks experiences of falling behind on consumer credit payments, such as credit cards and buy-now-pay-later payments. A quarter (24%) of people are contacted by their creditors every one to two days, while some people said they were receiving several letters, emails or calls each day.

Martin Lewis said: “While we understand that creditors have a right to contact those who owe them money, it has to be done with a recognition that mental health issues and debt crisis sadly, strongly, feed off each other.

“When done well, contact from creditors can help people to understand how much they owe and gives guidance and assurance about what they need to do next. But some people are being swamped with phone calls, texts and letters from multiple creditors a day – that leaves them feeling overwhelmed and harassed, feeling unable to ever escape the situation.

“That’s terrible for the individual, poor for the economy as exacerbating mental health issues adds costs to the economy, and it’s unlikely to improve the chances of creditors getting money back either.”

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Nearly half of people who are behind on payments say they feel “harassed” (49%) or overwhelmed (48%) by the volume of contact they receive from their creditors. This amounts to 2.5 million people who say that they feel “harassed”.

Money and Mental Health has sounded the alarm about the harm this is causing to people’s mental health, which is already under strain due to the rising cost of living.

One person said: “Phone calls, receipt of emails and letters demanding repayment sent my anxiety levels through the roof and increased the severity of my depression. When my debts were passed on to debt collection agencies, the negative impacts on my mental health were multiplied by 10 times… I made four serious suicide attempts as I could not see any other way out of the debts I had incurred.”

There are no laws in the UK limiting how often debt collectors can contact people about overdue bills. Although the Financial Conduct Authority states they should not contact people “at unreasonable intervals”, it does not clarify how often is too much.

The UK is lagging behind other countries such as the United States, where creditors are only allowed to call debtors seven times in one week. The charity argues this is still too often, but provides a level of protection that people in the UK do not have.

Many people living in debt could have multiple creditors – so what might seem like a reasonable amount of contact from one debt collector could quickly become overwhelming and feel like harassment when multiple are involved. 

Lewis added: “There’s no silver bullet for these issues, but stopping a never-ending overflow of messages to people about their missed payments would make a big difference in reducing the stress that too many people are under – hopefully helping them manage the situation better too.

“The concern is heightened due to the cost of living crisis, a time when half of people who are behind on bills say they have felt suicidal too. Our message to the government and regulators is simple. We need urgent action to prevent creating more unnecessary distress for people who are already under massive strain.”

Money and Mental Health is calling on the government to task the Financial Conduct Authority with placing limits on how often creditors can contact people about missed payments. It also urges the authority to identify when customers are behind on multiple payments, so lenders can see when someone is likely to be receiving a high level of contact already.

Conor D’Arcy, interim chief executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, said: “Given the harm this issue is causing, we want the FCA to investigate this as a matter of urgency, identify where that tipping point is and to put in place clear rules for creditors on how many messages is too much.”

Call Samaritans for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org for useful resources and advice on coping during this difficult time.