Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Debt collection agency Advanced Collection Systems (ACS) has received support from Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency and executive arm of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), to develop and launch an intelligent software solution with the goal of changing the debt recovery model used throughout the sector. The project will be…
Read more
Intrum Justitia has entered into an agreement to acquire 1st Credit, a mid-sized purchased debt company in the United Kingdom. The purchase price on a cash and debt free basis is about £130 million, attributable to a diversified portfolio of receivables, deriving from investments from several sellers in the financial industry. 1st Credit generated earnings…
Read moreThe Treasury should review lessons learned from the sale of former Northern Rock assets and ensure these are shared across government, the Committee of Public Accounts has said. In a new Report, the Committee concludes there are “many positives” from the sale but identifies areas for improvement, “particularly during the preparation phase”. The Committee recommends…
Read more
Arrow Global Group PLC has announced is results for the nine months ended 30 September 2016 (“Q3 2016”). Tom Drury, Group chief executive officer of Arrow Global said “Arrow Global continues to expand its European footprint and client offering across attractive markets where the Group is targeting leadership positions. This coupled with a high-quality and diversified…
Read moreNearly two years on from tough regulations implemented by the Financial Conduct Authority, the payday loan market continues to show signs of irresponsible lending and poor treatment of people in financial difficulty, according to a new report from StepChange Debt Charity. The proportion of people coming to the charity with payday loan debts has fallen from…
Read more
Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for November 2016: Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1.503 trillion at the end of September 2016. This is up from £1.451 trillion at the end of September 2015 – an extra £1036.58 per UK adult. Per adult in the UK…
Read more
Marston Holdings has announced that Alistair Townsend has joined the business as Group Client Services Director. Townsend was previously Head of Revenues and Benefits at Milton Keynes Council. He joins the Group with extensive knowledge of local taxation, revenue collection and local government. He has represented local government on a number of working groups for…
Read more
A company that sent out 2.2 million illegal marketing text messages has been fined £70,000 and ordered to stop by the ICO. The penalty was issued to London-based Nouveau Finance Ltd, a company which provides a loan matching service. Although there were only 92 complaints made about the messages, an ICO investigation revealed that Nouveau…
Read moreHousehold debts have risen to £1.5 trillion in the UK for the first time, new statistics from The Money Charity. After a period of flat growth, debt has begun to rise again in recent years. The Money Charity, which compiled the statistics, says UK adults owe an average of nearly £30,000 each – mostly in…
Read more
Aberdeenshire Council is sending messages through Facebook and WhatsApp in a bid to recoup unpaid rent. The Council has been contacting people living in council homes who are in debt using methods other than just post. A total of 35 evictions were carried out by the local authority in 2015/16, with £104,830 owed to the council.…
Read more
Perth and Kinross Council was forced to write-off nearly £300,000 of outstanding debts mainly due to rent arrears. In response to the problem the local authority launched its Rent 1st campaign to highlight the importance of making payments and offering extra support and advice for people who are struggling to pay. Now the housing and health…
Read more
The Financial Ombudsman (FOS) has published it’s latest complaints data for the second quarter of the financial year 2016/17. The complaints data shows a rise in issues with payday loans. Between, April and September 2016, the Ombudsman received over 5,000 payday loan complaints, compared to 3,200 between April 2015 and March 2016. There has also been…
Read more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today announced that it will take action to improve competition in the current account market. This follows a series of recommendations which were proposed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part of its investigation into retail banking. Christopher Woolard, Executive Director of Strategy and Competition at the…
Read more