Credit, collections & insolvency news
UK families are bearing some of the heaviest brunt of the ongoing cost of living crisis, with many resorting to drastic measures. Households with children in the UK are reporting that they are being more heavily impacted by the rising cost of living. In London, 25% of working parents say they’ve had to skip meals, or not…
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This year the UK has seen a significant decrease in the number of late payments, i.e. invoices being paid after their due date, despite the rise in insolvency numbers and the continued financial pressure on businesses. According to an analysis of data provided by Creditsafe, between March and August 2022, there were 40,820,170 late payments…
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Myths and misconceptions about the collections process abound, and have done so for years. As the trade body for the collections and debt purchase sector, we wanted to properly understand public opinion about our sector – and the polling evidence we’ve found is a salutary corrective to many of the views that are sometimes given…
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Before you flip the page to the next article, don’t worry, as a business, we understand that the debate and discussions about the importance of consumer duty have already taken place. We also understand that, just like Zinc, many of you reading this will now be in a position to say that you are Consumer…
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Household debts continue to mount up from every direction, with concerns that the reportable figures may only be the tip of the iceberg. Nationally, bill debt for the UK’s households has reached £22 billion, although due to limited data availability on key figures such as water bills and rent arrears, this total is only an estimate.…
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I attended the UK Credit & Collection Conference run by the Credit Services Association (CSA) last week. It was of course great to get out of the office and meet up in person, Here are some of the key themes, bullets and takeaways from the day. Key headline themes Still no reports of significant arrears…
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Small but significant increases in real terms pay growth may be contributing to improving levels of financial resilience. Recent months have seen pay growth rates continually failing to keep up with inflation, resulting in real terms pay cuts for many workers across the UK. However, there are indications that this trend may finally starting to…
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The financial services sector stands as one of the most intricately regulated industries, both within the UK and internationally. This rigorous oversight extends across two primary dimensions: the overarching regulatory framework governing the entirety of a company’s operations, and the pivotal focus on the individuals engaging directly with customers. Within the sector of debt recovery,…
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In the complex world of finance, credit reference agencies shoulder the responsibility of supporting informed decision-making for both lenders and individuals. Here at TransUnion, we see this as an opportunity for making trust possible between businesses and consumers, so that they can transact with confidence. As the global financial landscape becomes increasingly data-driven, the role…
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Firms often adopt a steely focus on their regulator’s definition of vulnerability. And asking ‘what is vulnerability?’ makes sense – regulator alignment is good. However, while our regulators provide documents, diagrams, and sometimes even maps to define ‘what is vulnerability?’, one question is often left hanging: Just what are our vulnerable customers actually vulnerable to?…
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While the UK’s current high-interest rates have gathered plenty of news coverage for their challenging impact on homeowners, UK renters are facing even greater levels of difficulty. Recent headlines related to interest rates and the cost of living have focused a lot on the homeowner market and the tough changes many are, or will soon…
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Money laundering is big business. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that between 2% and 5% of global GDP – up to 1.87 trillion Euros – laundered each year. A report from Transparency International estimates that in the UK alone it exceeds £325 billion per annum. From comparatively small beginnings, money laundering…
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It seems that lately, you can’t move for news about the Artificial Intelligence (A)) revolution, which is taking place all over the world, and which has resulted in many business sectors looking at how they may deploy AI in a way that adds value to their business and customer experience. As Head of Strategy for…
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