Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it has launched a consultation on proposals to make information available on a wider range of individuals at authorised firms. The FCA and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) currently maintain a public Financial Services Register, “the FS Register”, of the firms that regulate and approve individuals. In July 2017, the…
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A one percent interest rate rise would add £10billion to the UK’s mortgage bill, ultimately adding £930 a year to the cost of servicing the average mortgage, according to new analysis from international property adviser, Savills. Four in 10 borrowers on variable rate mortgages would be first to feel the pain. Their annual mortgage bill would…
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Legislation to cap energy prices for over 11 million households will go before parliament today. This bill will impose a temporary total cap on the cost of all default tariffs. Responding to the introduction of the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said “This bill is good news for…
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UK Finance has published its latest lending figures for 2018 that spending on cards was 5.8 percent cent higher than in January 2017, although higher repayment levels meant that the pace of borrowing saw little change, growing at 4.8 per cent annually. Commenting on the data, Eric Leenders, Managing Director, Personal Finance at UK Finance said: “January…
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Family incomes are set to start slowly rising again next year but low and middle-income households risk missing out with three years of stagnating living standards lasting until 2020, according to the Resolution Foundation’s annual living standards outlook. The report brings together the OBR’s latest economic forecasts with policy impact assessments to show what’s in…
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ABCUL (Association of British Credit Unions Limited) Chief Executive Mark Lyonette has announced that he will be leaving the association. Lyonette has been at the association for over 20 years. Under Lyonette’s leadership ABCUL has developed into a leading voice on issues such as financial inclusion and banking and payments reform. The Association has secured successive…
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A new report by charity Gingerbread analysing how single parents lives have changed has found that unsustainable work and poverty are two of the biggest issues facing the UK’s 1.7 million single-parent families. The report titled “One in four: single parent families in the UK”, finds that huge progress has been made over the past 100 years to…
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UK households stick with the same energy supplier for an average of four years, according to new research from comparethemarket.com. This equates to many households, on average, overpaying on their energy bills by £1,232**. For some families, the overpayment could be even greater. comparethemarket.com found that nearly a third (30%) have been with their provider for five years…
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UK households struggling on volatile incomes – for example those on zero-hour contracts or in part-time work – are five times more likely to turn to high-cost credit products such as rent to own and doorstep lending, new research from Citizens Advice shows. In its latest report, ‘Walking on Thin Ice’, the national charity says…
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Even the best intentions and clear strategy won’t give organisations peace of mind on GDPR compliance without the means to identify and repair system breaches. For those of us whose business owes its existence to the digital age and the proliferation of shared data, I think there’s overwhelming acceptance of the need to update the…
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UK Finance has today published its figures on regional lending trends for the UK mortgage market in 2017 Q4. The figures reveal that in both Scotland and Northern Ireland, the number of first-time buyers and remortgagers have reached their highest levels for a decade. Meanwhile, the Welsh mortgage market continues to grow at a steady…
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Two small energy suppliers have left the big six energy companies trailing when it comes to customer satisfaction according to a new survey by Uswitch.com. Challenger supplier Octopus Energy, which launched in 2016 and is included in the report for the first time, takes first place for overall customer satisfaction with a score of 96%.…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it has as launched a consultation on how technology can improve and facilitate regulatory compliance. The FCA regularly explores how technology can make our regulations more efficient and reduce the regulatory burden on firms. One of the ways we do this is through ‘TechSprints’ that bring together…
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