Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The proportion of first-time buyers relying on inherited wealth or loans from the ‘bank of mum and dad’ has reached a historic high and the trend looks set to continue, new research by the Social Mobility Commission has revealed. The Commission warns that the increasing trend will have damaging consequences for social mobility as young people on…
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People’s confidence in their own finances grew stronger in February, according to the latest Lloyds Bank Spending Power Report. As the UK prepares to trigger Article 50, Lloyds Bank’s regular consumer survey – conducted in conjunction with Ipsos MORI – found that positivity towards personal finances increased by 5pp to 68% last month. That’s marginally…
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The number of home repossession cases going through the Scottish courts has fallen by more than 40% in a year, according to new figures published today. There were 1,874 repossession court cases initiated in 2015-16, down 43% on the previous year and 82% fewer than in 2008-09. The Civil Justice Statistics show 77,721 civil law…
Read moreThe National Audit Office (NAO) has published the findings of its investigation into the Department for Work & Pensions’ closure of its 1993 and 2003 child maintenance schemes. The 1993 and 2003 ‘Child Support Agency’ schemes struggled with IT problems leading to poor customer service, backlogs and incomplete information about amounts due. Inaccurate assessments can…
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The HMRC spend on private sector debt collection agencies to chase people who have fallen behind on their tax bills has jumped by 92% in just one year to £24 million according to latest figures released by UHY Hacker Young. This is compared to a spend of £12.5 million on private sector debt collection agencies…
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Equifax, has launched a bespoke Document Verifier solution to provide faster identity authentication for financial product applications using facial recognition. The solution can verify whether an applicant is genuine in a matter of seconds by comparing a live image of the applicant with a photograph of their passport or driving licence, both taken on a…
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Furness Building Society has announced the appointment of Euan Ballantyne in a new role as Head of Products. Ballantyne joins the Furness as a financial services business leader with experience and achievements across a range of Retail and Business banking sectors. Most recently he was Head of Mortgage Intermediaries programme for Tesco Bank, leading their development…
Read moreA record 600,000 people sought advice for debt problems from StepChange Debt Charity last year (up 9% from 550,000 in 2015), equating to one person every 53 seconds. The average unsecured debt of the charity’s clients has increased for the first time in eight years from £13,900 to £14,251. The figures are taken from the…
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New research from Equifax, shows that 56% of people online would prefer to use a biometric security method over traditional options like passwords to log into their financial accounts online. The online survey, conducted by YouGov, found that a third (33%) of people would prefer to use fingerprint recognition as a security method to access their…
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118 118 Money has received full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Since launching in Cardiff, Wales in 2013, the lender has issued more than £150million in unsecured personal loans ranging from £1,000-£5,000, to customers who are unable to receive credit from their banks. Mark Burgess, COO and Interim CEO of 118 118 Money…
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Poorer people in Britain are being excluded from the financial system and forced to rely on expensive and substandard banking products, according to a new report. There are 1.7 million adults in the country that do not have access to a bank account, the report said, raising the risk that they will turn to high-cost…
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A Select Committee on Financial Exclusion has called on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Banks to give greater priority to tackling financial exclusion in the UK. With more than 1.7 million people in the UK without a bank account and 40% of the working age population with less than £100 in savings, the Committee asks them to end…
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The Money Advice Trust has welcomed a call by members of the House of Lords for a new government strategy on financial inclusion, and the designation of a lead Minister tasked with driving this agenda across government. The charity, which runs the free National Debtline advice service, called the Financial Exclusion Committee’s final report an…
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