Euro MP: "Time has come to sober up and face the reality: credit is just another name for debt." (Diana Wallis MEP)

Diana Wallis MEP <info@dianawallismep.org.uk>

Euro MP: "Time has come to sober up and face the reality: credit is just another name for debt."

August 29, 2003 12:00 AM

Local Euro MP Diana Wallis has warned that "the time has come to sober up and face the reality: credit is just another name for debt."

Speaking in Brussels in advance of the European Commission's proposals on Consumer Credit, she said, "The recent survey on consumer credit by KPMG shows us as a nation overdosing on credit but very soon we will wake up and find the party is over. The indications are already there; with the number personal bankruptcies reportedly now steadily rising."

"The irony is that we should be taking note of these warning signs, indeed we have a golden opportunity to do so as the European Commission currently has proposals on the table for a Directive on Consumer Credit to encourage cross border credit on the basis of 'responsible lending'. Sadly, some politicians and UK lenders seem to have a problem with responsible lending; they want everyone to join in our dangerous binge."

"KPMG's report should signal that the time has come to sober up and face the reality of what this is after all: credit is just another name for debt."

Diana Wallis MEP, who is the Liberal Democrat's Spokesperson on Internal Market matters, is on Friday 29 August meeting with the East Yorkshire-based Bankruptcy Advisory Service as part of her fact-finding tour around the region on the issue of credit lending.