Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that second charge mortgage new business volumes fell by 15% in August 2023. Commenting on the latest new business figures for the second charge mortgage market, Fiona Hoyle, Director of Consumer & Mortgage Finance and Inclusion at the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA), said…
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New research by Rightmove has found that supply shortages and mortgage rate rises have combined to push the cost of private home rents up by 10% over the past 12 months. The average rent for new properties being put on the market now stands at a record £1,278 per calendar month outside London in the…
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Consultancy firm Cornwall Insight predicts that annual energy bills for a typical household are expected to rise by £73 to £1,996 in January. Under Ofgem’s energy price cap, the typical annual bill will be £1,923 between October and December, with this down from the £2,074 seen in the July through September quarter. Dr Craig Lowrey,…
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EDF Energy has reported that the number of homes falling into debt on their energy bills has increased by 36% since the beginning of the year. The company also said standing charges on energy bills have increased by 55% since April 2021. The energy company has announced that it is boosting support for vulnerable customers…
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Ordinary working families are bearing the burden of the cost-of-living squeeze. New data from Lowell’s Financial Vulnerability Index shows areas with a high proportion of working families have seen a worsening in financial health compared with the UK as a whole in the first half of 2023. Lowell has identified 133 constituencies which are more…
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Latest credit card spending data from Halifax suggests it’s been a busy year for travelling, as travel-related spend (including on airlines and hotels), rose by 27% compared to 2019 and by 18% since 2022. This year, credit card spending at the UK’s twenty most popular air carriers (including British Airways, Jet2, EasyJet, Ryanair, Virgin and…
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Despite inflation easing, new research from the Living Wage Foundation shows that the cost-of-living crisis is far from over for Britain’s 3.5m low paid workers. Polling of over 2,000 workers earning less than the real Living Wage, by Survation, found that levels of financial hardship amongst low paid workers remained high and well above pre-cost-of-living-crisis figures. The…
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More than a quarter (26%) of UK consumers are spending more than they earn each month, according to early findings from the 2023 European Consumer Payment Report, conducted by credit management services provider Intrum. Of those overspending, the average amount was £190 a month – adding up to £2,280 a year. Another 53% said they…
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Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for September 2023 Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1,843.8 billion at the end of July 2023. The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £65,661 and per adult was £34,666, around 100.3% of average earnings. Net mortgage lending increased by…
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Mortgage holders are taking new steps to manage their finances to cope with higher monthly payments and adapting their spending due to inflation, new KPMG research has found. Faced with either the immediate reality or prospect of higher mortgage rates, 1096 mortgage holders were asked whether they have either already taken, or are considering taking,…
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An estimated seven million households are struggling to keep up with their rent or mortgage payments, with millions more at risk of tipping into financial difficulty by the end of 2024 as they remortgage at higher rates according to analysis by Which?. A survey of 4,000 people found nearly half of households (46%) with mortgages…
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Introducing social tariffs has the potential to reduce the energy bills of the country’s most vulnerable by over £330 a year, at a relatively low cost to the government according to analysis from Cornwall Insight. The research says that the introduction of the October Default Tariff Cap (price cap), offering discounted deals to low-income households,…
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Housing costs are a source of concern to many, yet around two in five people would potentially feel reluctant to discuss their budget pressures with their landlord or mortgage lender, according to new research in a new poll of adults, conducted by YouGov on behalf of StepChange Debt Charity. The research found that two fifths…
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