Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
1.7 million single parent families, representing 57% of all single parent households with children at home, struggled to pay their bills in recent weeks, reflecting the worsening conditions for millions of families across the UK, according to comparethemarket.com’s Household Financial Confidence Tracker. The research found that four in ten (43%) two parent households with children also found…
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8.2 million households, one in three in the UK, are expected to be in fuel poverty following October’s price cap increase, National Energy Action has warned. Today fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) releases worrying new figures amid the cost-of-living crisis. Energy experts Cornwall Insight has predicted that when the price cap rises in…
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Nearly 600,000 people are now paying less in interest and charges on their credit card debt because of changes made by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) according to its Annual Report. In the report the reulator has set out how it has worked over the past 12 months to meet its objectives of protecting consumers,…
Read moreSoaring energy costs and rising food and fuel prices are set to put an extra burden on families’ budgets over the school holidays, which begin this week with more parents being forced to turn to borrowing to make ends meet over the summer according to new research by Ste[Change. The research shows that parents are…
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New research from national poverty charity, Turn2us, has highlighted the impact of soaring living costs as almost half its users (47%) report being left with nothing to live on each week after paying housing, council tax and utility bills. The survey, completed by 2,730 of the charity’s service users, found that the same group of…
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Credit Connect’s hosted its fifth Online Collections Technology Think Tank 3.2 last week which saw collections strategies and the impact of cost of living economic stresses discussed by twelve collections professionals from a variety of industry sectors. The themes of collections risk, customer engagement, affordability and the future of collections were discussed by panellists and…
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With the latest projections from Cornwall Insight pointing to the next price cap exceeding £3,300 this winter, Energy UK is calling the Government to again look at actions that could reduce customer bills. These could include removing VAT from bills, moving existing levies onto general taxation and seeing whether other costs can be spread over a…
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Energy regulator Ofgem has told a number of energy suppliers to take immediate and urgent action after a review found a range of weaknesses or failings in the way they charge customers direct debits. Out of a total of 17 large suppliers in the market, the majority were found to only have minor issues, but…
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The Credit Services Association (CSA), the UK trade body for the debt collection and debt purchase industry, has cautiously welcomed the Government’s recent announcement of their intention to reform and modernise the now almost fifty-year-old Consumer Credit Act. In a new report, the trade body draws attention to the mismatch between the requirements of the…
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Citizens Advice has raised concerns over unregulated debt collection by the administrators of failed energy suppliers and called for an urgent review of the interactions between insolvency rules and the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) process. Customers of failed suppliers are at risk of aggressive debt collection tactics from administrators because they’re not bound by…
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New forecasts from Cornwall Insight are predicting that typical gas and electricity bills in England, Wales and Scotland could reach £3,363 in the new year. The figures have increased significantly from the £3,003 figure forecasted two weeks ago. Predictions for the Q4 2022 (Oct-Dec) Cap, have also seen a steep increase, and now sit at…
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One-in-six UK households (4.4 million) are now in ‘serious financial difficulties’ compared to one-in-ten (2.8 million) in October 2021 according to research by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust. The figures are worse than at any point during the pandemic. Of those 4.4 million in serious financial difficulties, to make ends meet 71% have reduced the quality…
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An estimated 2.1 million households missed or defaulted on at least one mortgage, rent, loan, credit card or bill in the last month according to new research from consumer group Which? This marks the sixth month this year that an estimated 2 million or more households have missed a payment. Although those on lower incomes…
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