Credit Action: Adverts for loans and credit cards breach rules

Posted 2008-05-11

Some credit providers are breaching advertising standards rules with their promotions on social networking sites such as Facebook.

According to debt charity Credit Action, some of the promotions being advertised do not comply with the Office of Fair Tradings rules.

The concern centres on issues such as the fact that most of the offers of finance, secured against a consumers car or salary, do not include the annual percentage rate of the interest that would be charged or the name of the firm making the offer.

Industry rules require companies to reveal the rate if they claim their product is better value than that of a competitor or if the advertisement offers a payment-free period.

Malcolm Hurlston, the chief executive of the charity, told the Guardian that the rules must be enforced to protect customers.

"These are the day-to-day realities of the credit crunch - creditors thinking up new ways of offering the young and the less well-off the credit they need. We must be sure that such creative products concur with existing rules and regulations," he said.

Facebook is a social networking site allowing people to contact friends and share photographs

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