Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Measures to provide better protection to business customers who have built up credit on their water accounts mark a significant step in the right direction. CCW has welcomed the decision taken by regulator Ofwat to try and ensure businesses are given clearer and more frequent information by the water retailers that bill them on the…
Read more
The pandemic has cemented a mass transition from traditional to alternative finance among UK consumers and SMEs. A perfect storm of circumstances including a pandemic-driven cash flow crisis among businesses, and the rise of fintech and challenger banks, is spurring the rise of alternative lending models. A burgeoning £6.26 billion market in alternative lending now…
Read more
With a press release titled: ‘FCA to introduce new Consumer Duty to drive a fundamental shift in industry mindset’ issued on 7th December, the Financial Conduct Authority made it very clear that it is expecting significant change to ensure financial credit markets work well for borrowers as it gears up for the introduction of the…
Read more
Recent research by trade credit insurer Atradius reported by Credit-Connect in December (‘Businesses Write Off £8 in Every £100 as Uncollectable’) suggested that as much as 44% of the total value of UK B2B sales were reported as ‘overdue’ in 2021 with a further eight percent written off entirely as ‘uncollectable’. That so many businesses…
Read more
The pace of UK consumer price rises has been higher and faster than forecast by most, bringing significant challenges ahead for households in the winter months. Financial forecasts have been defied this month with considerable increases in consumer prices across the UK. In the year to November 2021, the CPI (Consumer Price Index) increased by 5.1%, 0.9% higher…
Read more
Active listening is key to producing good customer outcomes. It goes beyond hearing words and requires you to understand the meaning and energy that the words carry. It involves engaging with focus and concentration, demonstrating understanding to develop a rapport with the person you are in conversation with and helping them feel at ease. That…
Read more
UK household budgets continue to be heavily pressured from all sides, with both international and national factors adding unexpected challenges into the mix. Significant challenging effects are being seen across the board on UK household budgets, driven by factors both expected and unexpected. In the year to October 2021, the inflation rate increased to 4.2%, alongside…
Read more
It was mentioned by one of the panelists at the Credit & Collections Technology Think Tank in early November 2021 that it’s really important to improve financial education, do you have any ideas how to do this, who it would be targeted to, and when? There seems to be an expectation that consumer/end user knowledge…
Read more
With a return to face-to-face networking, it was a pleasure to join this year’s Credit Connect Think Tank event on the 4th November in Manchester, signalling we have reached a good moment to take stock of the lessons learned during the pandemic and how the collections landscape may develop in 2022. At the Credit Services…
Read more
We have faced the most unprecedented health crisis of our times over the past 2 years. Within the collections industry, this has created huge challenges, such as mass working from home, reversal of outbound to inbound calling, and finding ways to meet the emotional impact of the pandemic – both for our customers and our…
Read more
The UK’s economic recovery from the pandemic remains in a point of transition, with every sign of a positive measure being equally met by a challenge. During October 2021, the UK economy continued its recovery from the significant effects seen throughout the last 18 months, but positive signs continued to be balanced by ongoing or…
Read more
Across the banking sector, organisations are under pressure to innovate faster – but as customer expectations and market competition continue to rise, digital solutions are evolving at pace to help them stay ahead of the game. When we look at the lending process, for example, the use of AI and machine learning has huge potential…
Read more
From the onset of the pandemic, economists around the world predicted an unprecedented fallout with global recession and a sudden surge in insolvencies. However, as we rode through the storm of the pandemic, the wave of insolvencies failed to materialise. After knowing the inevitable link between economic decline and business failures all too well from…
Read more