Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Money and mental health are strongly linked, with a report from the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute showing one in five people (18%) living with a mental health problem are also in problem debt and are also 1.5 times as likely to struggle with bills and credit commitments. A report titled ‘Mental Health and…
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New research from Tink has found that almost one in four (23%) consumers are ‘financially vulnerable’, with the majority (56%) expecting their situation to get worse over the next 12 months. The research also found that 56% say the situation will worsen as they expect their discretionary income to fall over the next 12 months.…
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Latest quarterly figures from the Insolvency Service for England & Wales have indicated that personal insolvency numbers increased by 38.9% in March 2023 to a total of 11,438 compared to February’s total of 8,237, and decreased by 1% compared to March 2022’s figure of 11,554. Personal insolvencies increased by 4.4% when compared to March 2021’s total…
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Data from the Bank of England shows that banks and building societies have seen an increase in defaults. In the three months to February, lenders said that default rates on secured loans to households, such as mortgages, and unsecured loans, such as credit cards, increased and are expected to increase further in the next three…
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The cost-of-living crisis has hit hardest in the North East, where savings are lowest and set to fall the most this year according to new research by Hargreaves Lansdown. The research found that in the North East few people have enough cash at the end of the month, and they have the lowest wages in…
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This weekend’s increase in the minimum wage won’t ‘lift the pressure’ on hard-pressed families, the TUC has warned. The TUC highlighted that the minimum wage will rise below inflation and far lower than soaring food prices. Analysis by the union body shows that minimum wage workers will miss out on £124 this year as a…
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Debt charity StepChange has released its client data for February 2023, which shows monthly client volumes continue to rise, they were 19% higher in February 2023 (16,076) compared to February 2022 (13,543). StepChange says the average (mean) unsecured debt per client has increased by 25% from £11,176 in 2021 to £13,941 in 2022. There was also…
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Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for March 2023 Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1,837.4 billion at the end of January 2023. The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £65,434 and per adult was £34,546, around 105.2% of average earnings. Net mortgage lending rose by…
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For the first time household debt has risen to over £2 trillion, which is almost the equivalent to the UK’s GDP. The fresh findings, from PwC’s Strategy& UK Consumer Credit Confidence report, also shows that UK consumers struggle to answer basic financial multiple choice questions. This is despite 88% of consumers reporting that they felt…
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Analysis by Legal & General shows that the cost-of-living crisis has hit the poorest households hardest, deepening existing economic inequalities. The firm’s Rebuilding Britain Index shows that 95% of working UK households have experienced a real terms pay cut over the last 12-months. The report finds that the cost of living crisis has hit the…
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Inflation and rising bills mean households are spending 12% more on essentials than they were a year ago, with almost four in 10 people having to use credit cards to cover these costs, research by Nationwide Building Society data shows. The monthly Spending Report analysed around 208 million debit card, credit card and Direct Debit…
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The Bank of England has raised interest rates for an 11th consecutive time to 4.25% following the surprise rise in inflation. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted for this change by a majority of 7-2, with the minority vote wishing to keep the rate at 4%. Commenting on the rise, Paul Broadhead, Head of Mortgage…
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Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show inflation rose more than expected last month to hit 10.4%, up from 10.1% in January. Economists had predicted a slight drop to 9.9%. The rise was driven by a continued rise in food costs, which increased by 18.2% in the year to February, the fastest rise…
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