Mission Statement

Our aim is to encourage the highest standards within the Debt Management Industry. Clients are, by the very nature of the financial circumstances that cause them to contact debt managers, often vulnerable and in extremis. It is the debt managers’ responsibility to deal with them both compassionately and effectively, through the ethical practices set out in our Code of Conduct.

Chairman: Michael Land

Michael Land’s early career was in television retail.  He founded Northern Television and was a director of Granada Retail Ltd.  He then moved on to build up two food companies (which included popcorn in cinemas and frozen Yorkshire puddings for supermarkets amongst their products).

His most recent business venture was the founding of Debt Management Associates Ltd (DMA) in 1999.  The business was sold to Card Protection Plan Ltd in March 2001 but he bought this back in 2005.

Whilst his area of expertise lay principally in the snack food and leisure industries, where he was the majority shareholder in these businesses, he spent some years earlier in developing finance and related businesses.

Having retired 3 times, Mr Land has always returned to the business world swiftly following each retirement.

He is Chairman of DEMSA, an organisation he founded when he set up DMA, together with Lord Harris of Haringey, and is firmly committed to DEMSA’s aim of encouraging debt management companies to provide services of the highest standards in which the public and the credit industry can have confidence.  He steered through DEMSA’s successful and lengthy application for OFT code approval.

General Secretary: Richard Wharton

Richard joined DEMSA at the outset, having spent 30 years in the Banking Industry. He has worked closely ever since with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to produce our Code of Conduct and to secure its’ approval under the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme.

He meets regularly with the OFT and other stakeholders to ensure that the Code is current and covers the evolving nature of the industry.