Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
In a bid to boost transparency and help consumers make more informed decisions about their finances, Experian has expanded its guaranteed rates service. The expansion of the service comes after Experian launched guaranteed rates for loans in May, with LiveLend and Admiral Car Finance joining Likely Loans, Zopa, Lendable, and Shawbrook to provide this offering.…
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The first major bank signs up to Money and Mental Health’s accessibility standards to prevent millions with mental health problems being ‘locked out’ of essential services The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has today launched the first ever Mental Health Accessible standards, to make essential services easier to use for millions of people with…
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A new report from Zopa has revealed the difficulties faced by customers applying for a personal loan, with most customers offered a rate higher than advertised or rejected altogether. The report, which included a mystery shopping exercise and research amongst loan customers, found that it’s nearly impossible for customers to compare loan providers or shop…
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The Government has announced a new breathing Space scheme which will protect Individuals and families struggling with problem debt. Under the new scheme, consumers will be given extra help and time to get their finances under control, City minister John Glen has revealed. The new plans will see the introduction of a 60-day Breathing Space…
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The number of interest-only mortgages fell by (13.1 per cent) in 2018 compared to the previous year, UK Finance figures have revealed. It means the total number of pure interest-only mortgages has now fallen by over half (54 per cent) in the past seven years, from 2.5 million in 2012 to 1.23 million in 2018.…
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Citizens Advice has said that it is concerned that loyal customers have been penalised by nearly £3 billion since it submitted its super-complaint. The charity lodged a super-complaint in September calling for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to outline how the loyalty penalty could be fixed in five essential markets (mobile, broadband, home insurance,…
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Prime lenders appear to be tightening their lending rules just at a point in time when used car retailers need greater flexibility from their motor finance, says finance specialist Startline. There are widespread reports across the sector of prime lenders turning down increased numbers of applicants from a wide variety of dealers, says the company,…
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More than half (51%) of homeowners aged 45 and oversee money invested in property as part of their financial plans for later life, according to a new report from the Equity Release Council. The research shows older homeowners – particularly those aged 45 to 64, the retirees of tomorrow – are reassessing the traditional roles…
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New research by Which? has found that more than seven million people have been left unable to use their payment card due to IT glitches in the past year. One in seven people surveyed for the consumer group could not use their debit or credit card due to an outage – equating to 7.3m people…
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The Bank of England has published its latest Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics which indicate that arrears figures have decreased slightly. The proportion of total loan balances in arrears has continued to decrease, reaching 0.99%, the lowest since the series began in 2007 The figures indicated that the outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans…
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The Financial Conduct Authority’s decision to introduce reforms to the overdraft market should help thousands of people from getting trapped in a debt spiral according to Citizens Advice which says it has helped almost 30,000 people with overdrafts last year Citizens Advice statistics show that overdraft issues overwhelmingly affect socially-disadvantaged people: 2 in 5 had…
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Households have been pushed nearly £2,000 into the red in the period since Theresa May became prime minister, according to TUC analysis as she prepares to resign the Conservative Party leadership. In every reported quarter since her arrival in Downing Street (2016 Q4 to 2018 Q4), families’ outgoings have outstripped their incomes. This has resulted…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed it is introducing reforms to fix a dysfunctional overdraft market. These changes will make overdrafts simpler, fairer, and easier to manage and will protect the millions of consumers that use overdrafts, particularly more vulnerable consumers. The changes represent the biggest overhaul to the overdraft market for a generation.…
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