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A Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Inside Out documentary to be broadcast on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú One (North East & Cumbria) on Monday, 25 October will show how a group from Thornaby, inspired by a former colleague of American President, Barack Obama, took on a hire-purchase company and the Office of Fair Trading to try to help some of the poorest people in their community.

Kath Carter is one of several people who has been empowered by a programme that gives ordinary people the skills to become community organisers. The courses are being run by Mary Gonzales who, together with Barack Obama, worked in some of Chicago's poorest neighbourhoods to highlight the issues affecting the underprivileged. The course is one of only three in Britain and is organised by Thrive – a branch of Church Action on Poverty.

Kath, who used to run a successful business, is now a full-time carer to her husband and son and lives on benefits. She's determined to tackle the trap that people on benefits can find themselves in when it comes to obtaining affordable credit. Together with other community organisers Kath took on the Buy As You View organisation.

Buy As You View charges up to 39.9% interest on its goods, which is not uncommon in its industry. Rae Oram, another trainee community organiser, tells the programme how money is not collected via a direct debit payment but through a box connected to her television – even though she owns her set outright.

Every time Rae wants to watch television she has to put money into the box, which is then used to pay off the debts she has built up for the kitchen appliances she bought from Buy As You View. When she was filmed, the box hadn't been emptied for months, so the TV was off, and she's even more in debt than she was before.

In the streets of Thornaby, Kath meets other residents who have bought goods from Buy As You View. She hears from one man who says that he ended up paying about three times more for his television than its original price, claiming that nobody explained that this would be the case at the time of purchase. She also finds that other Buy As You View customers are on average about £3,000 in debt and still don't own the goods they have been paying towards for years.

Kath says: "It's legal… but is it ethical?"

To get the campaign ball rolling, Kath and the group make an advert that is uploaded onto YouTube. It's a spoof that seeks to poke fun at the reality of buying goods from the company. The ad was an immediate hit and attracted media attention; it also resulted in the Chief Executive of Buy As You View, Graham Clarke, agreeing to meet with the group. They found he actually agreed with many of their points.

Graham Clarke tells the programme that he's wanted to make changes to his industry for years. His (and other companies) don't share their customers' payment history, so they can't build up a credit rating. Graham thinks they should share this information, which would allow them to give lower rates for good payers who could one day climb the ladder to get bank loans at cheaper rates.

The community organisers eventually join forces with Buy As You View to try and change the law so that good credit ratings can be shared – making it easier for people to get out of the high-interest credit trap.

"I think this is a great example of where a community has been able to get things together, lobby an issue and make some progress", says Mr Clarke.

At the Centre for Responsible Credit Conference in London last week (Tues 19 October) Kath, the team and Buy as you View met a representative from the Office of Fair Trading who agreed that there is indeed a problem for some when it comes to accessing affordable credit. Kath also met the Rev Jesse Jackson – a key note speaker at the conference – and was able to tell him how well the group had been progressing. The Reverend also said he'd join the group!

Buy As You View (Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Inside Out) will be on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú One in the North East and Cumbria on Monday on Monday 25 October at 7:30pm.

RF