Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Two thirds (63%) of households resorted to credit cards, loans and overdrafts to cover Christmas costs in 2022 according to new research by Credit Karma. A total post-Christmas balance of £9.8 billion has prompted concern around managing repayments, as rising levels of borrowing coincide with higher household expenses for necessities, from groceries to heating and…
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Surprise economic growth in November means that the UK is unlikely to have fallen into recession last year. But this will be of cold comfort for many families who are still in the midst of a deep living standards downturn according to the Resolution Foundation. With latest ONS GDP data showing a surprising growth of…
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More than one in twenty are behind on their energy bills, which grows to around one in ten of those aged 16-49 and women according to latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. The figures also showed that 46% of people find it very or somewhat difficult to pay their energy bills – rising to…
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Latets figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that Second charge mortgage new business volumes grew by 9% in November 2022 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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Cash usage increased for the first time in 13 years in 2022, as many households respond to the cost-of-living crisis by budgeting with physical money. according to latest data from Nationwide Building Society Data The research showed that more than 30.2 million cash withdrawals were made from Nationwide ATMs last year – a 19 per…
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Centrica plc announces that Russell O’Brien will be appointed Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and an Executive Director on 1 March 2023. Kate Ringrose will step down as CFO and an Executive Director on 28 February 2023 and is expected to leave Centrica towards the end of 2023 after an orderly transition. Chris O’Shea, Centrica…
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NatWest has unveiled a £40m support package for customers as it looks to cushion the impact from the soaring cost of living. The bank’s plans include extending the time it takes to repay an unsecured loan or overdraft if payments are missed from 18 months to two years. NatWest will give firms cash back on…
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New research from Citizens Advice found that 3.2 million people across Great Britain ran out of credit on their prepayment meter last year because they couldn’t afford to top up. That’s one person every 10 seconds – cut off from their energy supply as the cost-of-living crisis left people struggling to keep the lights on.…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned that more than 750,000 households are at risk of defaulting on their mortgages over the next two years as soaring borrowing costs make payments unaffordable. The financial regulator said that over 200,000 households had already fallen behind on payments by the end of June 2022 – with bills…
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New research has revealed that 1.6 million people who have identified themselves as vulnerable were pressured into taking out credit or services for someone else, in last 12 months. Undertaken for the Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS), the research has highlighted that in the past 12 months, 5% of UK adults (2.7 million people) have been…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is proposing to update guidance, introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, to support insurance customers in financial difficulty. As part of the FCA’s ongoing work to help protect customers during the current cost of living squeeze, this will provide clarity to firms about how they should support all struggling customers, not…
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One in five people (over 12 million) now borrowing to pay for food and other essential bills, with half doing so for the first time according to research by Money and Pensions Service, The survey of 2,180 UK adults, carried out by the Money and Pensions Service, shows that one in five (23%) have relied…
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Both the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) and ICAEW have issued updates around the approved changes to SIP 3 that take effect from 1st March 2023. The revised SIP 3.1 will apply to #ivas where the Nominee is appointed on or after 1st March 2023. SIP 3 was previously reviewed in 2021, but progressed stopped when the FCA introduced CP21/30 (Debt…
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