Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Commenting on figures published by the ONS today (Friday), which shows that unsecured borrowing is at its highest level (as a share of household income) in 8 years, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Today’s figures should set alarm bells ringing. The last thing our economy needs right now is another consumer debt crisis. But…
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Regulators in the water, energy, telecommunications and financial services sectors could do more to support the increasing number of vulnerable consumers, according to the National Audit Office (NAO) Consumers spend around £136 billion annually on energy, water, telecommunications and retail financial services. Vulnerable consumers are those who, because of their circumstances, are particularly susceptible to…
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Financial fraud losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques totalled £768.8 million in 2016, an increase of 2 per cent on the previous year, figures from Financial Fraud Action UK show. The new data shows banks and card companies prevented £1.38 billion of fraud last year, equivalent to £6.40 in every £10 of attempted…
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Consumer expectations about house prices have bounced back to pre-EU Referendum levels after a period when the immediate ramifications of the vote were unclear according to data from the Building Societies Association Property Tracker survey. Almost half of consumers (49%) expect house prices to rise over the next 12 months. Just 10% expect them to…
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A record 600,000 people sought advice for debt problems from StepChange Debt Charity last year (up 9% from 550,000 in 2015), equating to one person every 53 seconds. The average unsecured debt of the charity’s clients has increased for the first time in eight years from £13,900 to £14,251. The figures are taken from the…
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New research from Equifax, shows that 56% of people online would prefer to use a biometric security method over traditional options like passwords to log into their financial accounts online. The online survey, conducted by YouGov, found that a third (33%) of people would prefer to use fingerprint recognition as a security method to access their…
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Poorer people in Britain are being excluded from the financial system and forced to rely on expensive and substandard banking products, according to a new report. There are 1.7 million adults in the country that do not have access to a bank account, the report said, raising the risk that they will turn to high-cost…
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The British Bankers Association (BBA) has released February 2017 figures for the high street banks. The data shows that household borrowing of £13.4 billion in February was 4.6% higher than in the same month last year. Main highlights included: The BBA’s latest high street banking data show that consumer credit is growing at an annual rate…
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Irish Legal rights group FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) has raised concerns over mortgage arrears figures released by the Central Bank of Ireland’s latest statistics on Residential Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions from Quarter 4 in 2016. The group said the data confirms that worrying trends continue where family homes are in mortgage arrears. Over 5,000…
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The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has published it’s latest monthly statistics. The CML estimates that gross mortgage lending reached £18.2 billion in February. This is 8% lower than January’s lending total of £19.8 billion, and closely matches the £18.1 billion lent in February last year. Commenting on market conditions in this month’s market commentary, CML…
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The Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) and The UK Cards Association are today launching a new publication – Vulnerability; a guide for debt collection – that will help their members to better identify and support customers in vulnerable circumstances. Both trade associations worked in partnership with the University of Bristol’s Personal Finance Research Centre (PFRC)…
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The financial impact of having a baby is placing a significant burden on parents. According to new research by comparethemarket.com, new parents will spend £184 a week on necessities such as food, clothing, nappies and childcare for their baby, equating to £9,568 in the first year of parenthood. The cost of starting a family is…
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New research from Skipton Building Society has found that the majority of us spend longer each day on making a cup of tea than we do pausing to look at our finances. Skipton Building Society interviewed 2,000 UK adults about their financial habits, highlights of the report include: Three in five people (57%) spend half…
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