North East Discussion Forum (NEDF)

The objective of the North East Discussion Forum (NEDF) is to improve working relationships between the creditor sectors and money advice sectors by:

 

  • Facilitating and organising a non-policy making discussion forum,
  • Promoting better communications, best practices, understanding and professionalism among individuals and organisations concerned with consumer credit, personal debt, money/debt advice, debt collection and all related matters,
  • Organising and administering regular meetings and workshops,
  • Networking to assist with the resolution of differences that occur from time to time, whether they are individual cases, experiences by either creditors or advisers, or more general differences of opinions.

 

The North East Discussion Forum covers a vast geographical area from South Yorkshire, to East Yorkshire and as far north as Newcastle. The steering group has tried to address this issue by holding meetings around the region (Leeds or Bradford, Sheffield, Newcastle and Hull) in order to give as many of our members as possible the opportunity to be able to attend at least one meeting a year. Our attendance figures have risen over the last couple of years and seem to be fairly stable at around 30-35 participants at each meeting. Many are “regulars” but there are, on average, two or three new faces at each meeting. There is usually a “good mix” from both the “advice sector” and the “credit sector of the industry” which makes for lively discussions.

 

The NEDF meets four times per year and we are fortunate that some of our creditor members very generously “host” the meetings in their premises, which often gives Advisers an opportunity to understand better the work of the creditor sector. Membership is welcomed from like-minded organisations that can share our aims and objectives. Any new organisation that applies for membership will be asked to make a short presentation at a future meeting, following which there will be a ballot and a decision made whether to accept the application.

 

We always attempt to make our meetings applicable to all attendees and two examples of topics we have covered over the past year are:

 

  • Common Financial Statement update
  • Death and debt
  • Consumer Credit Directive

All presentations are followed by a questions and answers session.

 

In 2012 we will meet on the following dates:

 

  • Wednesday 7th March
  • Wednesday 13th June
  • Wednesday 12th September
  • Wednesday 5th December

 

Interest in our forum is greatly welcomed and we would be pleased to receive your contact details and keep you informed of forum events if you wish to use the form, here, on our ‘Contact Us’ page.