Banks ''are still not treating people with mental health problems appropriately''

Banks and other lenders still need to work harder to help people with mental health problems who get into debt, a leading charity has said.

A spokesperson from the charity Mind revealed that anecdotal evidence suggested that banks were still not giving enough support to people with mental health issues that got into debt.

She explained that many people found they were repeatedly called by lenders chasing up the debt.

"It''s not just a matter of a letter every week, people are experiencing phone calls almost as if they were being done on a shift system, so they were being called from eight in the morning until eight in the evening by different people on their landlines and their mobile phones," the spokesperson added.

She pointed to recent research which showed that 91 per cent of people said being in debt had worsened their mental health problems.

To improve the situation, Mind called on lenders to "keep to the Money Advice Liaison Group guidelines".

"It''s a code of practice, about responding appropriately to things like missed payments and treating people who are worried and have anxiety and depression appropriately," the spokesperson concluded.