Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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 moreCentral Trust has announced the appointment of a Regulatory Consultant to its board of directors. Jane McMahon has joined the second charge mortgage lender as a regulatory consultant. As well as Central Trust, McMahon has also been appointed as regulatory consultant for Central Trust Syndicate Number One Limited, Central Loans Limited, Commercial Trust Limited and…
Read moreLindorff has announced a strong a strong performance in Q3 2016. Net revenue in the quarter was EUR 167m, an increase of 26 percent compared to the same quarter last year, and adjusted EBITDA excluding non-recurring items was up 32 percent to EUR 110m compared to the same quarter last year. The growth was driven…
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A new report suggests that a failure to address financial difficulty in the main NHS talking therapies programme is holding back the recovery of tens of thousands of people with depression and anxiety. A quarter of people with ‘common’ mental health conditions like depression or anxiety are also in problem debt, which is likely to be holding…
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Motormile Finance UK Limited, a debt purchase and collections firm, has entered into an agreement with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide redress to more than 500,000 customers for historic failures in its due diligence and collections process. The firm had inadequate systems and controls over due diligence. In particular, it failed to conduct sufficient…
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Ulster Bank has been fined 3.3 million (£3 million) by Ireland’s financial watchdog over breaches of money laundering and terrorist financing rules. The Central Bank said its inquiries uncovered significant failings in Ulster Bank’s procedures practices over six years from July 2010. It said its inquiries uncovered significant failings in Ulster Bank’s procedures but no money…
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Scottish Councils could be handed more powers to limit the number of controversial pay day loan shops opening on Scotland’s high streets. The Scottish Government has faced calls to introduce legislation even though there is now a cap of 0.8 per cent APR on the amount pay day loan firms can charge, campaigners have expressed concern…
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