Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) anticipates that fraud and scams will constitute 35% of its banking and loan cases in the 2025/26 financial year, translating to over 37,000 complaints. This marks an increase from the projected 33,000 cases by the end of the current financial year. FOS also expects to handle around 240,000 new complaints…
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Consumer confidence in the UK’s economy has plummeted, with the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) consumer sentiment index revealing a drop to -34 in January, down from -27 in December. The survey indicates that only those aged 18-27 expect improvement, while two-thirds of individuals aged 60-78 anticipate a worsening economy. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the…
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Mortgage affordability improved for the second consecutive month in November, new analysis from Stonebridge reveals. The mortgage and protection network’s latest Mortgage Affordability Index shows that monthly repayments accounted for 36.3% of the average borrower’s salary in November. This is down significantly from 40% in September and 38.7% in October, the data shows. The last…
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Latest research from Cifas has shown that nearly half (48%) of adults believe it is ‘reasonable’ to commit first-party fraud. First-party fraud, when someone knowingly misrepresents their identity or provides false information for financial or material gain, is on the rise. Examples include exaggerating salaries on mortgage applications, ordering goods online and falsely claiming they…
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Business insolvency numbers (liquidations and receiverships) in Scotland for Q3 2024-2025 decreased by 2.4% compared with Q3 2023-2024, to a total of 285 according to latest Accountant in Bankruptcy data. Business insolvencies (liquidations and receiverships) decreased by 8.9% when compared with the previous quarter’s total of 313 (July-September 2024). Commenting on the Scottish insolvency statistics,…
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