Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Profits at Virgin Money more than halved in the first half of its financial year, with impairment charges in the six months to March tripling to £232 million, from £77 million a year earlier. The firm’s underlying pre-tax profit was down from £280 million to £120 million, with statutory net profit of £22 million higher…
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Families are coming to terms with the fact that their finances could be negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic long after the lockdown lifts. According to the second week of comparethemarket.com’s Financial Confidence Tracker, over two thirds (67%) of households with children at home think the economic impact of the pandemic will have a long-term…
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Victims of bank transfer scams who have been denied refunds may be in line for compensation after the Lending Standards Board (LSB) found banks’ refund processes were flawed and ordered them to review old cases. The LSB conducted a review into how banks including Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest were adhering to a code of rules…
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The Bank of England had published its latest banking statistics which have indicated that mortgage approvals for house purchase fell to 56,200, their lowest level since March 2013. House purchase decreased by 24 per cent from almost 74,000 in February, hitting their lowest level for seven years. The Bank of England data shows that while…
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The Insolvency Service has published the latest personal insolvency figure for England & Wales which indicates that the total numbers of insolvencies in Q1 2020 decreased when compared with the previous quarter and the same quarter in the previous year (Q1 2019). The figures largely pre-date the Government lockdown and wider impact of the Coronavirus…
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Barclays has issued a warning about the cost of the pandemic in its latest financial results, which saw that pre-tax profits fell to £913 million amid Covid-19 crisis. The company says it could be forced to take a £4.5 billion charge to cover bad debts in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The…
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UK Finance has announced that over 1.6 million mortgage payment holidays have been offered to homeowners impacted by Covid-19. This means that one in seven mortgages in the UK are now subject to a payment holiday. For the average mortgage holder, the payment holiday amounts to £755 per month of suspended payments. Lenders continue to…
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The UK mobile industry, banking and finance sectors and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have joined forces to prevent criminals from sending scam text messages exploiting the Covid-19 crisis. The ongoing industry initiative by the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), Mobile UK and UK Finance, supported by the NCSC, is helping to identify and block…
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Metro Bank has committed to repay more than £10.5 million to its customer after it breached a legal order by failing to send texts warning people about unarranged overdraft charges. The bank was found to have breached Part 6 of the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017. This requires banks…
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Consumer credit technology and outsourced services provider, Equiniti Credit Services (EQCS), has announced that it has been chosen by Cardiff-based bank, Hodge, to create a flexible digital mortgage servicing solution. This latest client win is significant for EQCS and marks its move into the mortgage market for the first time. EQCS is working with Hodge…
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New data from Barclaycard, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions has revealed overall consumer spending declined by 6% in March due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, although some sectors saw strong growth. The figures revealed that spending on essential items rose by 11.6 per cent in March. Supermarket purchases…
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Figures from the Financial Conduct Authority show complaints to financial services firm jumped from 4.29m in the first six months of 2019 to 6.02m in the second half of the year. This was driven by a surge in claims for mis-sold PPI ahead of an industry-wide deadline last August. The data show that complaints related…
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he Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) has highlighted the need for changes to the Consumer Credit Act (CCA) following 526,000 Covid-related requests for forbearance to its members by mid-April. Giving evidence yesterday to the Treasury Select Committee on the economic impact of Coronavirus, Stephen Haddrill, Director General of the Finance & Leasing Association, highlighted the…
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