Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
The British Bankers Association (BBA) has released February 2017 figures for the high street banks. The data shows that household borrowing of £13.4 billion in February was 4.6% higher than in the same month last year. Main highlights included: The BBA’s latest high street banking data show that consumer credit is growing at an annual rate…
Read more
Irish Legal rights group FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) has raised concerns over mortgage arrears figures released by the Central Bank of Ireland’s latest statistics on Residential Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions from Quarter 4 in 2016. The group said the data confirms that worrying trends continue where family homes are in mortgage arrears. Over 5,000…
Read more
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has published it’s latest monthly statistics. The CML estimates that gross mortgage lending reached £18.2 billion in February. This is 8% lower than January’s lending total of £19.8 billion, and closely matches the £18.1 billion lent in February last year. Commenting on market conditions in this month’s market commentary, CML…
Read more
The FCA has published a webpage on debt permissions for consumer credit firms, which states that a full permission firm with the permission of debt adjusting or debt counselling with a “no debt management limitation” must review its limitations to ensure they are appropriate. To find out more detail click here.
Read more
Craig White has been appointed UK Chief Operating Officer at GFKL Lowell. He will take up his new role on April 3rd, and replaces Andrew Bartle, who is leaving to develop new ventures. White will lead the UK Operations team, which is well placed to maintain the exceptional quality of service it delivers to both…
Read moreThe Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Chairman, John Griffith-Jones, has today announced the appointment of a new Chair for the FCA’s independent Smaller Business Practitioner Panel.Craig Errington, Group Chief Executive of specialist financial mutual Wesleyan, becomes Chair of the FCA Smaller Business Practitioner Panel from 1 April 2017. He has been a member of the Panel…
Read moreThe deliberate exclusion of social landlords from the Universal Credit system means arrears levels are even worse than was originally feared, according to the Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum (GWSF) of Housing Associations. Submitting evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee’s Inquiry into Universal Credit, GWSF says that arrears aren’t just down to teething…
Read more
Plusnet, a BT owned company, has today been fined £880,000 by Ofcom for continuing to bill more than a thousand ex-customers. The penalty is the result of an investigation, which found that the telecoms company broke a fundamental billing rule by continuing to charge a group of customers for landline or broadband, after they had…
Read more
Phillips & Cohen Associates has confirmed the opening of its Spanish operation, headquartered in Madrid, with the announcement of its business leader for Spain. The group, celebrating its 20th year of global trading, is delighted to announce that the Spanish operation will be run by Melania Sebastian Marino. Melania has over 12 years’ experience leading…
Read more
The European Central Bank (ECB) has urged Banks to implement realistic and ambitious strategies to address Non Performing Loans (NPL) reductions. European banking reforms should include a range of policy options such as non-performing loan workout, servicing and portfolio sales, the ECB said in a report statement. In its final guidance on non-performing loans, the…
Read more