Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Credit Services Association (CSA), the voice of the UK debt collection and debt purchase sectors, is to host the Credit and Collections Technology Awards at this year’s CSA Gala Dinner on 13 September. The co-branded event, which will form part of the CSA’s UK Credit and Collections Conference (UKCCC), reflects the Association’s growing recognition…
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Debt charity, StepChange has published new insight on its clients, revealing that debt problems appear to be particularly acute for certain groups, such as tenants and single-parent families. The charity’s Statistics Yearbook reports that 619,946 new clients contacted the charity for debt advice last year – 3.5% more than in 2016, and 22% more than…
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Millions of pounds in unpaid debts are being written off by East Renfrewshire council following a hike in council tax rates. Local authority bosses are preparing to accept the loss of £3.363m in historical community charge arrears, dating back more than 20 years. A further £739,000 of ‘bad debt’, including unpaid council tax and housing benefit…
Read moreThere were more County Court Judgments (CCJs) against consumers in England and Wales during 2017 than any other year since current records began in 2005, according to figures released today by Registry Trust. In 2017, 1,138,058 judgments were registered against consumers in England and Wales. Rising almost a quarter on 2016, the total number of…
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Peter Wallwork, Chief Executive of the Credit Services Association (CSA) has again called for the adoption of a Code of Practice as the de facto best practice ‘standard’ across all sectors and organisations collecting consumer debts. Whereas agencies collecting financial services debts are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and adhere to the CSA Code,…
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Councils across the Black Country and Staffordshire called in bailiffs to collect more than £21 million in debts over the past two and a half years, new figures have revealed. From 2015 six local authorities used debt collectors on 161,471 occasions, with council tax arrears accounting for around 65 percent of cases. The association that…
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It is estimated that there could be over £25 million worth of fraud being perpetuated by businesses falsely claiming Small Business Rates Relief across England, according to data analytics specialist Destin Solutions. Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) is provided to a number of businesses across England on the basis that they either only use one property…
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Debt advice experts are calling for enhanced training for legal advisers and court staff following last week’s announcement by the High Court that up to 17 people in England and Wales were unlawfully sent to prison in 2017 for council tax arrears. While the court failed to declare this a ‘systematic failing’, it was acknowledged…
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The Civil Enforcement Association (CIVEA) has appointed Russell Hamblin-Boone to a new position of Chief Executive Officer. Mr Hamblin-Boone will give a new voice and direction to CIVEA and its members at a time when the industry is facing a review of regulations and needs strong representation in policy debates. Hamblin-Boone was previously Chief Executive…
Read moreEnglish and Welsh councils are believed to have used Enforcement Agents on nearly 41,000 firms that struggled to pay higher business rates following the Government’s controversial revaluation last year. The estimate was the result of an investigation by ratings adviser Altus Group, which said tens of thousands of businesses that failed to pay higher business…
Read moreUniversal Credit has already left more than 100 council tenants across Nuneaton and Bedworth owing almost £120,000 in rent. According to borough council figures, there were 156 Local Authority (LA) tenants claiming Universal Credit (UC) and, of these, 126 were in arrears with their rent. The total amount of money owed was £118,000 and 60 per cent…
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Almost £5 million in council tax went uncollected across Wolverhampton last year while a further £1.5 million in business rates was also unpaid. Councillor Wendy Thompson, Conservative leader on the Labour-controlled Wolverhampton council, said: “I find this absolutely shocking. It is a huge amount of money – and just think of what could have been…
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Millions of pounds are owed to Dundee City Council by tenants in rent arrears according to a new report by the Evening Telegraph. Figures provided to the Telegraph show that more than £2 million of debt has been accrued by council tenants in the city who have defaulted on their payments to the local authority.…
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