Identity Fraud escalates to new levels

23rd August 2017 Consumer Collections |

Fraud prevention service, Cifas has released new figures showing that identity fraud has continued to rise at record levels in the first six months of 2017.  A record 89,000 identity frauds were recorded, up 5% from last year. Representing over half of all fraud recorded by the UK’s not-for-profit fraud data sharing organisation, 83% of…

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Consumer finance grows by 7% in June

17th August 2017 Consumer Collections |

New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show growth of 7% in consumer finance new business in June, compared with the same month last year, and growth of 4% in the second quarter of 2017 overall. Credit card and personal loan new business together grew by 10% compared with June 2016, while…

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ICO fines Talk Talk over data risk breach

11th August 2017 Consumer Collections |

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC £100,000 after it failed to look after its customers’ data and risked it falling into the hands of scammers and fraudsters. An ICO investigation found TalkTalk breached the Data Protection Act because it allowed staff to have access to large quantities of customers’ data. Its…

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FCA announces proposals to extend the Senior Managers Regime

26th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published proposals to extend the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) to almost all regulated firms. The new regime will essentially replace the Approved Persons Regime. The aim of the new regime is to reduce harm to consumers and strengthen market integrity by making individuals more accountable for their…

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Card charges to be outlawed

20th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

The government has announced that  card charges will be consigned to history, after Ministers act to end these unfair fees for millions of people across the country.rules that will mean card-charging in Britain – where people can be charged 20% extra for purchases like a flight just for paying with a credit card – will come to…

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New law will give Consumers more control over finance data and decisions

20th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

Consumers will have greater control over their bank data and financial decisions thanks to new laws coming into force in January. The government is bringing in a new regulatory regime for innovative FinTech firms which will transform the way people engage with their finances and make it possible to manage all of their finances at the…

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Consumer finance has risen by 5% so far in 2017

7th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show consumer finance new business grew in May by 8% compared with the same month last year. Credit card and personal loan new business together grew by 11% compared with May 2016, while retail store and online credit new business increased by 3%. Second charge…

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New toolkit helps creditors to support people who fall behind on payments

5th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

A new toolkit to bring consistency to the way creditors work with debt advice agencies when collecting repayments from people who are in debt has been launched by the Money Advice Service today. This is the first time that all major debt advice agencies and creditors have worked together to raise standards of creditor practice…

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Money Statistics: June 2017

15th June 2017 Consumer Collections |

Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for June 2017: Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1.532 trillion at the end of April 2017. This is up from £1.485 trillion at the end of April 2016 – an extra £886.84 per UK adult Per adult in the UK…

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Overdue bills and housing arrears triple in a decade

14th June 2017 Consumer Collections |

Debt charity Christians Against Poverty has discovered that household bills and costs have tripled in the past ten years. A decade ago, the average client owed £1,412 in priority arrears, a figure representing just nine per cent of that person’s whole debt problem. In 2016, it had ballooned to £4,582, nearly a third (32%) of…

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Consumer spending falls for the first time in four years

12th June 2017 Consumer Collections |

UK household spending has fallen for the first time since 2013. Kevin Jenkins, UK & Ireland Managing Director at Visa said “Consumer spending fell for the first time in nearly four years in May, following some marked slowdowns in growth since the beginning of the year. Our Index clearly shows that with rising prices and stalling…

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Consumer Credit grows by 6.4% in April

25th May 2017 Consumer Collections |

The British Bankers Association (BBA) latest high street banking data shows that consumer credit growth was 6.4% in April, compared with 6.1% in the previous month. Gross mortgage borrowing totalled £13.4 billion in April.* Net mortgage borrowing was 2.4% higher than a year ago. Eric Leenders, BBA Managing Director for Retail Banking said “As the…

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Ofcom to review high prices and unfair practices

15th May 2017 Consumer Collections |

Ofcom is to review the cost of calling some telephone services, to ensure people are protected from high prices and unfair practices. People have been spending less on mobile and landline calls in recent years, and consumers generally have a wide choice of call packages and phone services. However, Ofcom is concerned about the rising…

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