Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Over 620,000 families in England and Wales are spending more on overdue bills than on food, new research published by The Children’s Society has found. Families behind on bills are spending 18% of their income on paying back arrears. The Children’s Society is warning that huge bills can force families to cut back on food…
Read more
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published independent research exploring the experiences of potentially vulnerable people using family law services. The report has found that consumers are commonly using loans, credit cards, and payment plans to access legal advice as the cuts to legal aid continue to affect the most vulnerable. While 84% consumers seeking…
Read moreThe government has announced that it will be cracking down on misleading consumer practices including subscription traps, where people pay subscriptions they aren’t aware they’ve agreed to. A report from Citizens Advice last year found as many as 2 million people struggle to cancel continuous payments – often used for buying products online – and…
Read moreConsumers spent £647 billion using payment cards in 2016, new figures fromThe UK Cards Association show. There were 14.8 billion card transactions in 2016, equivalent to 40.5 million transactions a day or 469 a second, data from The UK Cards Association shows. Three-quarters of retail spending (76.4 per cent) was on payment cards. Retail spending on…
Read more
As the Bank of England’s latest money and credit statistics show an increase in consumer borrowing, Citizens Advice says right now more people are seeking help for debt problems from essential household bills. The Bank of England’s figures for January 2017 show consumer credit grew by 10.3% in the year to January to £194 billion.…
Read more
A significant proportion of small businesses across Britain are preparing to reduce investment and staff costs once business rates rise next month, according to a new survey from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The research finds that more than a third (36%) of small firms expect to see their business rates increase from 1…
Read more
The advantages of the fall in the value of sterling post-Brexit may not be able to overcome the other strong headwinds the sector faces, resulting in 1,800 UK hotel companies having at least a 30% chance of going insolvent within the next three years according to Moore Stephens. While a weaker pound may encourage more…
Read more
Euler Hermes has released an economic statement suggesting two years of substantial declines in insolvencies is about to end. Ludovic Subran, chief economist at Euler Hermes said “This is happening because global growth is not accelerating and will linger below +3% in the coming years. Companies are therefore more vulnerable to external shocks.” At a global…
Read more
Over 760 businesses ceased trading in December 2016 with 1093 small businesses scheduled to cease trading in January according to research, carried out on behalf of London insolvency practitioners Hudson Weir. The research reveals that 14.5 per cent of these companies were operating in the retail and food and drink sectors. This means at least another 110…
Read more
New analysis from KPMG reveals that 2016 saw the reversal of a six year downward trend in levels of insolvency for British businesses, following an uptick in companies entering into administration in the second half of the year. The numbers, taken from notices in the London Gazette, show that 1,174 companies, or groups of companies,…
Read more
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) reveals today that UK small business confidence in the last quarter bounced back to the level reported before the EU referendum campaign began. FSB’s Small Business Index (SBI) has now moved into positive territory, which means that more small businesses feel confident than those that feel the opposite. The headline…
Read more
Almost six and a quarter billion payments worth a total of £4.8 trillion were processed by Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs) in yet another record breaking year for the company behind Direct Debit in the UK. At the end of September 2016, a huge 109.3 million Direct Debits and Bacs Direct Credits passed through the…
Read more
More than 5000 restaurant companies are at risk of insolvency as a result of the Brexit vote and business cost increases. A total of 5,570 restaurant companies have at least a 30% chance of going insolvent within the next three years according to Moore Stephens. Higher costs and stagnating incomes have put a strain on businesses, and…
Read more