Poorest households could see cost of living jump by 10% in the autumn

17th March 2022 Consumer Collections |

The poorest households could see their cost of living jump by as much as 10% by this autumn, the Resolution Foundation think-tank has warned. Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that the unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points between November and January to 3.9%. Meanwhile, the number of UK workers on payrolls rose by…

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Recession risk looming into view

The poorest households could see their cost of living jump by as much as 10% by this autumn, the Resolution Foundation think-tank has warned. The Foundation says that rising food and energy prices risk driving a second inflation spike this autumn that could reach over ten per cent for poorer households – significantly higher than…

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One in twelve now using BNPL to cover basic costs

15th March 2022 Arrears and Recoveries | #BNPL

One in twelve people turned to Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) to cover basic costs such as food and toiletries in the last six months research by Citizens Advice has found. The charity discovered young people, those in debt and those claiming Universal Credit, are at least twice as likely to have used BNPL for…

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One in three people overspent even before prices rocketed

10th March 2022 Arrears and Recoveries | #spending

New ONS data has indicated that one in three people (35%) were spending more than we made, even before the pandemic, so the cost-of-living squeeze is set to cause enormous problems. More than half (57%) of single people of working age overspent before the pandemic: a higher percentage than any other household type with 43%…

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One in seven people borrow to pay bills

8th March 2022 Arrears and Recoveries | #bills

Latest ONS statistics highlighting the social impacts of Coronavirus have indicated that one in seven people borrow to pay bills. The research also showed that  81% of people said their cost of living has risen over the past month. When asked how this was affecting them, 22% of people said they were spending their savings.…

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1.8m Scottish people have taken a financial hit during the pandemic

8th March 2022 Consumer Collections |

Over 1.8 million adults in Scotland have seen their finances get worse during the Covid pandemic, according to new analysis from Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS). Polling for the charity by YouGov found 41 per cent of Scottish adults found their financial position got worse during the pandemic, with 15 per cent saying their position has…

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Money Statistics: February 2022

28th February 2022 Arrears and Recoveries |

Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for February 2022 Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1,765.6 billion at the end of December 2021. The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £63,528. Per adult this was £33,328, around 108.7% of average earnings. This is up from the revised £33,306…

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More than one in five people borrow money to cover funeral costs

New research from SunLife shows almost 40% of people are not putting enough money aside to pay for their funeral, leaving their families to pick up the £1,800 shortfall. The report also highlights that one in five is also having to borrow to cover that shortfall with the average cost of a funeral is now estimated…

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Generation Z under threat from rising bills

Generation Z are far more likely to be living on the edge with only 14% having enough spare cash to be resilient to rising prices compared to 52% of Millennials, 60% of Baby Boomers and 64% of Generation X according to research by HL Savings and Resilience Barometer, produced with Oxford Economics. The research also…

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Cost-of-living crisis spreads impacting three-quarters of households

18th February 2022 Consumer Collections | #cost of living

The extension of cost-of-living costs is impacting three-quarters of households new ONS fortnightly data has revealed. In the first half of February, 76% of people said their cost of living had risen in the previous month, up from 69% in the second half of January. The most common price rise they mentioned was the increasing…

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Households facing ‘triple threat’ of rising inflation, energy price hikes and tax increases

16th February 2022 Consumer Collections | #inflation

Inflation in the UK increased to the highest rate for three decades in January as the impact of rising energy bills fed into a wide range of goods and services, adding to the squeeze on household living standards according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the consumer price index measure of inflation increased…

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Labour market grows but real pay squeeze deepens

16th February 2022 Consumer Collections | #economy

UK wage growth failed to keep pace with the rising cost of living between October and December, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show. While wages increased, when taking inflation into account pay was down 0.8% compared to a year earlier. Employees’ regular pay, excluding bonuses, grew by 3.7% between October and December from a…

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Collections Technology Think Tank 3.1 review

10th February 2022 Arrears and Recoveries | #Think Tank

Credit Connect’s hosted its fourth Online Collections Technology Think Tank 3.1 last week which saw collections strategies and the impact of the pandemic discussed by fifteen collections professionals from a variety of industry sectors. The themes of collections risk, customer engagement, affordability, vulnerable customers and the future collections were discussed by panellists and Chair Vanessa…

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