FCA publishes guidance on incentives and performance management

29th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its policy statement and finalised guidance on staff incentives, remuneration and performance management in consumer credit firms. In the latest Policy Statement, the FCA has responded to feedback arising from CP17/20  and published final rules for staff incentives, remuneration and performance management in consumer credit firms. These come into force on…

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Morses warns home credit campaign could force millions to use illegal lenders

29th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

Morses Club has responded to recent reporting on the Home Collected Credit sector calls for the tighter regulation. In a statement Morses said that it offers transparent fixed interest rate products and does not charge its customers any fees or penalties for late payments, ensuring they never pay more than their original agreement, regardless of…

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CreditLadder announces Monzo and Starling partnership

29th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

Rent recognition platform CreditLadde has announced a partnership with Monzo or Starling Bank which enables customers to improve their credit history when paying their rent. CreditLadder have used the Open Banking compliant API which went live earlier this year following their integration with TrueLayer. These two challenger banks join the existing high street banks through which…

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Irish Central Bank publishes PCP data findings

29th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

An Economic Letter by Martina Sherman, Tiernan Heffernan and Bryan Cullen provides, for the first time, comprehensive data on the personal contract plans (PCPs) market in Ireland. The data was compiled following a survey of all lenders in the PCP market by the Central Bank statistics division to provide a reliable data source on the…

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1.4 million households ‘resort’ to high cost credit for living costs

28th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

New research by StepChange estimates that 1.4 million lower-income households resorted to high-cost credit to meet day to day living costs last year – up from 1.1 million households in 2016. The charity’s new research now identifies three distinct groups of those living on lower incomes in the UK, and how alternatives could be developed…

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FOS publishes latest complaints data shows 3% decrease in complaints

28th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

The Financial Ombudsman Service has published its latest six-monthly complaints data on individual business and groups today. The data features complaint numbers about banks, insurance companies and other financial businesses received by the ombudsman service between 1 July – 31 December 2017. • 219 businesses feature in the complaints data – down by 11% when compared…

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Scottish Government announces £200m is repaid through DAS

28th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

The Scottish Government has announced that over £200 million of debt has been repaid since the reform of the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) in 2011, Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy Paul Wheelhouse has announced. More than 6,000 people have now completed a debt payment plan through the scheme. Wheelhouse also announced a raft of…

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Growth in credit card debt surges to 12-year high

27th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

Credit card debts have surged at the fastest annual rate in 12 years in February. The latest figure from UK Finance shows that consumer spending use of credit cards, with outstanding levels of card borrowing, grew at a rate of 6.3 percent over the year, whilst the use of loans and overdrafts continues to fall.…

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Mortgage approvals fall 11% in February

27th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

Latest UK Finance lending figures show that gross mortgage lending in February is estimated to have been £19bn, 4.9 percent more than a year ago but below the monthly average of £21.4bn for 2017, The data also shows re-mortgage approvals in the month are up over 9 percent in both number and value compared to…

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Call to protect Consumers from paying excess costs on rent-to-own goods

27th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

New research from Citizens Advice shows high-interest rates, late payment fees and expensive add-ons are leaving rent-to-own consumers struggling to pay for goods that they can end up having to return. Figures in the charity’s new ‘Rent to Return’ report show if existing rent-to-own loans were priced down through a similar cap to that on…

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Ofgem bans Iresa from taking on new customers

27th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

Ofgem has banned Iresa from taking on new customers, increasing existing customers’ direct debits, and asking them for one-off-payments, for up to 3 months until it resolves customer service issues. Over this period, Ofgem has ordered Iresa to improve the service it provides to its customers, including in the following ways: (2) extending call centre…

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Household income stalls as spending is stretched

27th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

New Lloyds Bank analysis shows 3% year-on-year growth in essential spending putting pressure on outgoings with only 35% of working consumers believing they have seen their household income increase over the last 12 months according to the latest Lloyds Bank Spending Power Report. In the monthly Ipsos MORI survey of over 2,000 bank account holders…

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Parents use children’s savings to supplement day-to-day living costs

27th March 2018 Consumer Collections |

Parents are dipping into their kids’ savings to supplement day-to-day living costs, a study has found. Researchers polled 5,000 mums and dads and found one fifth have borrowed money from their children’s piggy banks and accounts in order to pay their living expenses. Nearly half of those have taken cash out of their little one’s…

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