Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
More than four in ten people struggling with debt wait over a year before seeking help, according to research from StepChange Debt Charity and PRA Group. The study of more than 1,600 debt management plan client, found that 43% worried about their finances for more than a year before seeking advice. Embarrassment was the most common…
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Days before the Chancellor delivers the Autumn Budget, more than half of adults (52%) expect it to leave them worse off, according to new research from Creditspring, with just 12% expecting to be better off, so pessimists outnumber optimists by more than four to one. The research shows that many households go into the Budget with…
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Consumer confidence has suffered its sharpest month-on-month fall since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest data from GfK. No single factor explained the slump and pointed instead to rising inflation, the conflict in the Middle East and the broader squeeze on household budgets. GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index was down 11 points to -24…
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The share of workers on low pay failed to fall for the first time in 15 years, and in fact rose slightly last year, the Resolution Foundation has said in response to the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). ASHE is a large ONS survey of businesses and provides valuable detail on earnings…
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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has had success in reducing tax debt as a proportion of tax receipts for three consecutive years, while managing significantly more new debts since the pandemic, according to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO). Taxpayers owed a total of £43.8 billion in tax debts at the end…
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More than a third (36%) of households in Britain with an annual income of less than £40,000 have skipped meals or eaten less because of financial pressures in the last three months, according to the latest Vanquis Financial Wellbeing Index. Over the same period, more than a quarter (27%) have delayed medical or dental treatment…
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Average active UK credit card balances surpassed £2,000 in August, marking a historic high, according to FICO. Payment rates fell after a brief recovery, contributing to increased balances. Average spending rose by 3.1% month-on-month to £840, 3.3% year-on-year, marking the highest annual growth rate in over a year. The average credit limit also crossed £6,000…
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Money Advice Liaison Group (MALG), in partnership with WyserAI, has secured funding from the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to deliver a new project designed to build AI fluency, confidence and readiness amongst UK debt advisers and their clients. The funding follows the successful completion of MALG and WyserAI’s previous MaPS-funded research project exploring safe…
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Latest monthly figures from the Insolvency Service for England & Wales showed that personal insolvencies decreased by 2% in September 2026 compared to the previous month, with 11,894 people entering insolvency compared to 11,684 in August. Personal insolvencies were 9% higher than in September 2025, when the figure was 10,952. The insolvencies consisted of 671…
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New research from the Centre for Responsible Credit has found that around 3.5 million low- to middle-income households in Britain, 44% of those who use credit, cannot afford both their essential living costs and their credit repayments. For these households, the median budget shortfall is around £633 a month. The report analyses Bank of England/NMG…
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New research from Investec has shown that changes to inheritance tax (IHT) rules are set to increase the financial support provided through the Bank of Family. More than one in five (22%) retired people say they plan to increase how much they give their family over the next five years as a direct result of…
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Just under half (49%) of working women are now classed as financially vulnerable, compared to 35% of men, according to analysis by the financial wellbeing firm Hymans Robertson Personal Wealth. The research investigated the financial wellbeing of the UK workforce, lifting the lid on how frequently they have stressful feelings about their finances and where…
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Despite the cost-of-living squeeze, new Nationwide research reveals that almost one in five (20%) 25–34-year-olds say they plan to “go big” this Halloween and spend more than they did last year, even though nearly a quarter (24%) of the same age group say they expect to spend less because of rising living costs. Among those…
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