The public insolvency register: what customers tell us

As part of our campaign to replace the public Individual Insolvency Register (IIR) with a private register, we recently surveyed our existing customers on insolvency solutions, and shared a similar survey more widely with our general social media audience.

Here’s what we found:

Just over half (52%) of existing customers said that the thought of being on the public IIR had caused them to delay or think twice about starting their solution. Although they had all eventually begun an insolvency solution, 83% said that having their details on the public IIR worried/upset them either ‘a bit’ or ‘a great deal’.

A quarter suspected that an individual or organisation had found their details through the IIR (more than half weren’t sure). Of these, most reported receiving unsolicited marketing approaches, and:

• at least one customer was concerned that an ex-partner had found them on the register
• a Trust Deed customer who responded to the public survey said that their bank manager had disclosed their Trust Deed to a friend. “When I challenged this, their rationale was ‘it’s public information anyway’.”

Almost 1 in 10 customers said that they had experienced other consequences of being on the public IIR, mostly with moving house or finding employment.

Nearly all (98%) of customers currently on insolvency solutions said they would support the replacement of the public IIR with a private register. Most agreed that lenders should have access, but didn’t see why their details should be accessible to anyone who wanted them.

“It ruins your professional reputation, causes anxiety, stress and depression with the knowledge that it’s visible to anyone.”

“Making it a public register can make people judge you before they know anything about your situation.”

It’s our view that the public IIR is a hangover from an earlier era, in which indebtedness was treated as a moral failing and insolvency as a source of shame.

As a society, we need to change our attitude to people who are recovering from problem debt, having taken debt advice. Adding to the stigma around debt, and preventing (or at least delaying) people from seeking debt advice at the time when they really need it, runs contrary to the goal of a financially healthy society.