ASA Adjudication on Scottish Advisory Service

Ad

A circular was headlined "Scottish Advisory Service (Providing Debt Free Solutions)". Images of the Scottish flag appeared on either side of the headline claim. Text continued, "Because we missed you does not mean you have to miss out!!!! Government Credit Crunch Bail Out. First the Banks Now Its [sic] Your Turn!!!!! IF YOUR DEBT IS OUT OF CONTROL NEW GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION NOW ALLOWS US TO WRITE OFF DEBT THAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY. YOUR DEBT CAN BE IN THE FORM OF LOANS, CREDIT CARDS, STORE CARDS OR CATALOGUES WHATEVER YOUR PROBLEM FREE HELP IS ONLY A PHONE CALL AWAY!!!! ..." Contact details for the service appeared at the bottom.

Issue

1. The complainant, via their Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP), challenged whether the ad was misleading because it gave the impression that the service was associated with an official Government backed scheme, which he believed was not the case.

2. The ASA challenged whether the ad exaggerated the likelihood of consumers' debts being written off.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. The Scottish Advisory Service (TSAS) said they operated strictly in Scotland and, prior to using the trading name, they had made a check with Companies House in Scotland.

2. TSAS said they generated their leads via door to door mail drop and received approximately 100 to 150 customer enquiries weekly. They said, where appropriate, they would advise potential customers of the benefit of applying for a Trust Deed, a Debt Management Plan, or a sequestration via the Accountant in Bankruptcy depending on their individual circumstances. They said the employee who gave free debt advice was a qualified Senior Debt Advisor. They said there was no direct charge or cost to any of their customers for their services and their advice was impartial. They said they recommended what was available, in the form of debt help, for customers who qualified, and obtained agreement to submit their details to a debt management company who would then contact customers directly and offer them their services should it prove appropriate.

They said their records showed that on average 31% of the enquiries they received were from people who would, through TSAS's recommendation, go on to contact their local Citizens' Advice Bureau and apply for a Low Income Low Asset (LILA) permission, which allowed the customer to apply for sequestration under Scottish law if their earnings were less than £229 per week. They said this permitted the individual to apply to the Accountant in Bankruptcy for a sequestration costing £100 (paid directly to the Accountant, not to TSAS) whereby they could be discharged of their debt after a year.  

They sent information about the debt write-off achieved by a selection of customers whom they said had benefitted from their advice.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA considered that, because the ad was headlined "Scottish Advisory Service" and the Scottish flag appeared on either side, and because the ad continued with two references to Government policy and legislation stating "Government Credit Crunch Bail Out. First the Banks Now Its [sic] Your Turn!!!!! IF YOUR DEBT IS OUT OF CONTROL NEW GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION NOW ALLOWS US TO WRITE OFF DEBT THAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD ..." the ad was likely to mislead readers into believing the service was associated with an official Government scheme.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clause 7.1 and 7.2 (Misleading advertising).  

2. Upheld

We noted many of TSAS's enquirers were advised to apply for a consolidation loan to reduce their debt payments rather than found to be eligible to write off debt under government legislation. We considered that the claim "Government Credit Crunch Bail Out. First the Banks Now Its [sic] Your Turn!!!!! IF YOUR DEBT IS OUT OF CONTROL NEW GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION NOW ALLOWS US TO WRITE OFF DEBT THAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD ..." gave the impression most or all enquirers would be able to take advantage of new government legislation to get debt they could not afford written off whereas that was not the case. We concluded that the claim was misleading.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 and 7.2 (Misleading advertising).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)