Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Credit management firm Intrum UK has announced that it has this month deployed a collections ‘chatbot’ powered by artificial intelligence. The chatbot enables customers to receive answers to their questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The technology is being piloted in Intrum’s UK and Norwegian businesses before it is deployed globally. The intelligent…
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The Credit Services Association (CSA) has welcomed the support for fair treatment for people struggling with mental health but has expressed concern over the continued characterisation of their members as being ‘anti-consumer’. The CSA, which represents over 300-member firms dealing with more than 40 million cases, has called upon the debt charity sector to work more closely with…
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Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) has released official statistics reporting personal insolvencies in Scotland for the fourth quarter (January to March 2018) of 2017-18. Provisional estimates show that in 2017-18 personal insolvencies in Scotland increased by 4.7% to 10,503 from 10,032 in 2016-17. Estimates for 2017-18 are provisional until final figures are published in July 2018.…
Read moreLevels of arrears and repossessions are expected to grow this year, according to Jackie Bennett, Director of Mortgages at UK Finance, at the UK Finance Speaking at a UK Finance annual mortgage lunch, Bennett noted that arrears were at a historic low in 2017 with 89,000 people with arrears balances of 2.5% or more of their…
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Excel Collections & Enquiry Services Limited has announced the appointment of Laurence Venn as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) following the retirement of David Thorpe. Venn is a highly experienced credit & collections professional. His career spans over 30 years and has held senior collections leadership positions at Lloyds Banking Group, Permanent TSB in Dublin and more…
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Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for April 2018: Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1.578 trillion at the end of February 2018. This is up from £1.53 trillion at the end of February 2017– an extra £1,169.92 per UK adult. Per adult in the UK that’s an average debt of…
Read moreTarget Group, the business process outsourcing and operational transformation provider, has today announced it has been selected by the BBC, following an EU procurement process, to deliver the ‘Simple Payment Plan’ (SPP). Target was awarded a two-year contract with an option to extend for up to a further two years. The Government introduced legislation in…
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Debt Purchaser Lowell has announced its latest results for its full year ended 31 December 2017. The results show double-digit growth across all key metrics. The addition of the Carve-out Business from Intrum as a new Nordic region, which successfully completed after the close of the period, brings further strategic diversification and growth opportunities for…
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The Credit Services Association (CSA) is concerned that new guidelines for debt advisors could keep customers in debt for longer by failing to reflect their true financial position, and in the worst case push them into unnecessary and potentially damaging insolvency. The CSA believes that the revised guidelines – presented by the Money Advice Service…
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The Credit Services Association (CSA), has announced the first of the major sponsors for the 2018 UK Credit and Collections Conference (UKCCC), which this year moves to Crowne Plaza, Stratford Upon Avon. Conexus Recovery and Field Services, which has clients across the banking, utilities, retail and debt purchasing sectors, is returning as a sponsor and…
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Sharon Donnelly, Deputy Governor, of Ireland’s Central Bank has highlighted the progress made to date in tackling non-performing loans (NPLs) in Ireland, though notes the significant complexity in dealing with the outstanding arrears cases. This comes in a signed article co-authored with Trevor Fitzpatrick, Darren Greaney, Fergal McCann and Mícheál O’Keeffe and published as part…
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Last year saw a return to growth in the loan sales market, with a total of €114 billion of real estate backed loan sales recorded during the year, according to the latest report by the global real estate advisor, CBRE. Despite being a record year for loan transactions, there are still circa €1 trillion of…
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Online research from TDX Group, an Equifax company, reveals that 45% of people think it’s too easy to get into debt, with a further 20% stating that banks and other lenders need to be stricter about the amount they lend to consumers. The survey, conducted with Gorkana, also highlighted that 68% of people think a…
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