May 7, 2006

By Peter Kenny

Leading debt charities have asked Carol Vorderman, the co-presenter of Channel 4’s popular Countdown quiz show, to stop endorsing consolidation loans, which are secured against borrowers homes.

Carol Vorderman has earned a high reputation as a mathematics expert through the Countdown quiz show, and has also written help books on the extremely addictive number puzzle game, Suduko. It is because of her strong reputation with numbers it is feared that many borrowers move into secured or consolidation loans without realising the full extent of the risks to their homes.

The TV advertisements are used to encourage people to move into secured debt. Debt counsellors, because of the risk to property do not often advise this option. These secured loans are promoted in such a way that you can amalgamate (consolidate) all your debts, be it credit or store cards, personal loans or a car loan, into one secured loan which is secured against the borrowers property. The main selling point used by loan companies is that your monthly payments can be reduced. What is not highlighted enough in TV Ads or promotional material is the fact that it will take much longer to pay off the debt and will cost much more than before.

The debt charities asking Carol Vorderman, and other famous faces, to stop promoting these secured loan companies are The Consumer Credit Counselling Service and Credit Action. Martin Lewis, the money saving guru who is well known on consumer aware programmes like BBC1’s Watchdog, also supports them. Martin Lewis also runs a money saving website www.moneysavingexpert.com