article_snippet: In some cases, companies had a backlog of correspondence from debt advice charities stretching back several weeks, meaning lenders were completely unaware of why customers had defaulted on customers loan.
article_snippet: This included medical evidence which would have explained why someone had stopped repaying their debt.
article_snippet: Even lenders which had logged details of customers' personal circumstances, including illness or bereavement, sometimes failed to tell debt collectors this.
article_snippet: Some firms were also short-staffed and inadequately trained to deal with complex arrears cases, this added.