Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Consumers can save more than £2,500 a year by taking control of their finances, new analysis from Experian has revealed. Families are overpaying on their mortgages and energy bills, and those paying interest on their credit cards can cut their costs by switching to a better deal. Experian has launched Money Matters Week to help…
Read more
New figures from the Registry Trust indicate that in 2018, there were 1,115,099 County Court judgments (CCJs) were registered against consumers in England and Wales, a fall of two percent on 2017. This is the first time in six years that the number of CCJs against consumers has fallen. The average value of a consumer CCJ…
Read more
New figures released by the Finance Leasing Association (FLA) have shown that the number of second charge repossessions in 2018 was 147, 8.1% higher than in 2017. In the final quarter of 2018, the number of repossessions was 28, down by 26.3% compared to the same period in 2017. The number of properties repossessed during…
Read more
UK Finance has published its Mortgage Arrears and Possessions Update for the fourth quarter of 2018, which saw 4580 homeowner possessions in 2018, the lowest level since 1980 when there were 3480 possessions. During this period, there were 6.2 million outstanding homeowner mortgages, compared to 9 million at the end of December 2018. The data…
Read more
Early findings from major new research by StepChange Debt Charity, released as part of the charity’s Debt Awareness Week, show what variations in progress typically arise among different groups of clients as they embark on resolving their difficulties after taking debt advice. Some of these confound expectations. The new research tracks groups of clients three…
Read more
New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew in December 2018 by 4% compared with the same month in 2017, and by 5% in Q4 2018 as a whole. Credit card and personal loan new business together grew in December by 5% compared with the same…
Read more
More water companies should pour some of their own profits into schemes designed to help cash-strapped households with their water bills, according to the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater). The Water Watchdog wants the industry to increase its funding of financial assistance for low-income customers, ahead of a 2 percent rise in the average water and sewerage bill in England…
Read more
People claiming Universal Credit are still struggling to pay for the roof over their heads, despite the wait for their first payment being reduced from six weeks to five, according to new Citizens Advice data. One in two people the charity helped were in rent arrears or fell behind on their mortgage payments, the same…
Read more
Latest figures published by the Registry Trust have shown that Scottish debt orders have risen by 7 percent in the past year. During 2018, 24,362 debt decrees registered against Scottish consumers, this was seven percent higher than in 2017. There was also a moderate increase to the combined value of all consumer decrees to £64.1million. The average…
Read more
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has released its latest report which shows that it has dealt with around 3,300 inquiries about debt collection and took on over 1,000 new complaints for investigation in 2018. The complaints cover credit and consumer loans, such as mortgages, credit cards and personal or business loans. They don’t include household debts…
Read more
The Insolvency Service has published a review of the monitoring and regulation of Insolvency Practitioners (IPs). Following the introduction of “Regulatory Objectives” for Recognised Professional Bodies (RPBs) in October 2015, the Insolvency Service has undertaken a number of reviews to assess the effectiveness of the regulatory regime. As part of that, the Insolvency Services has visited…
Read moreThe Bank of England has today published its latest monthly Money and Credit report showing consumer credit growth slowed to 6.6 percent in the year to December 2018. Outstanding balances for consumer credit stand at £215.6 billion. The Bank of England says that the credit growth slow down reflects the continuation of relatively weak flows…
Read more
Latest figures from the Insolvency Service for Northern Ireland show that there were 73 company insolvencies between October and December. 34 were compulsory liquidations while 26 were creditors’ voluntary liquidations. There were also eight administrations and five company voluntary arrangements. That total of 73 was 19.8 percent lower than the same quarter in 2017 and…
Read more