Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will remain open until the end of October, the Chancellor has announced. In a boost to millions of jobs and businesses, Rishi Sunak said the furlough scheme would be extended by a further four months with workers continuing to receive 80% of their current salary. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said…
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Scottish Parliament has published a new bill to amend bankruptcy legislation. The Coronavirus (Scotland No.2) bill will be subject to an expedited procedure and subject to Parliament’s approval, is likely to come into force by the end of the month. The Bill includes proposals to make a number of important changes to current bankruptcy legislation,…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business fell in March 2020 by 16% compared with the same month in 2019, and contracted by 4% in Q1 2020 as a whole. Credit card and personal loan new business together fell in March 2020 by 10% compared with…
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Nearly 1.2 million payment holidays on credit cards and personal loans have been granted by UK banks for customers struggling with the COVID-19 outbreak. New figures from UK Finance have shown that almost 700,000 customer accounts have been given a payment holiday on their credit card. with another 470,000 payment holidays agreed on personal loans.…
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The Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) has renewed its call to the Government and the Bank of England to take urgent action to support the non-bank lending market. New figures released by the FLA show that ist members provided just over £138 billion of new business in the twelve months to March 2020. Of this…
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The Credit Services Association (CSA) says that it has received a positive response to its call for closer collaboration with trade bodies representing the wider business community in planning for a phased relaxation of current lockdown rules. The CSA says that fellow trade associations have welcomed its drive to prevent the actions of a minority…
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Profits at Virgin Money more than halved in the first half of its financial year, with impairment charges in the six months to March tripling to £232 million, from £77 million a year earlier. The firm’s underlying pre-tax profit was down from £280 million to £120 million, with statutory net profit of £22 million higher…
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Families are coming to terms with the fact that their finances could be negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic long after the lockdown lifts. According to the second week of comparethemarket.com’s Financial Confidence Tracker, over two thirds (67%) of households with children at home think the economic impact of the pandemic will have a long-term…
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Citizens Advice is calling for immediate changes to Universal Credit ahead of a potential second wave of claims when the government’s protection schemes come to a close. Data released today by the Department of Work and Pensions shows 1.9 million households have made a claim for Universal Credit in the last two months. This equates…
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Consumers are spending more than £65 million per month on energy while working from home, according to new research by energy provider Utilita. The survey of 2,000 UK adults revealed 40 per cent have transformed their home into a makeshift office during lockdown with a total of around 12.5 million now working from home (WFH).…
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Nearly a fifth of households are struggling to pay their bills because of the government lockdown imposed due to COVID19. According to comparethemarket.com’s new Financial Confidence Tracker, 20% of households are not confident that they will be able to meet due payments or stay on top of household finances over the coming weeks. Amongst those…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced it is proposing a series of measures to support both consumers who hold insurance products and who are facing other issues as a result of coronavirus (Covid-19). The package of measures sets out the FCA’s expectations that insurance firms should consider whether their products still offer value to…
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New research from Citizens Advice has revealed that over 13 million people have already been unable to pay, or expect to be unable to pay, at least one bill because of the coronavirus outbreak. Of these, almost 11 million have missed or expect to miss a bill that would leave them vulnerable to severe consequences…
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