Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
New reforms by energy regulator Ofgem could soon call on suppliers to hand £1.4billion in customer credit back to households under plans to stop energy companies from holding on to customer credit balances. Ofgem is concerned that some suppliers may be using customers’ surplus credit balances, which tend to build up over the summer when…
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Provident Financial Group (PFG) has revealed that it is being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with the regulator looking into issues including whether the firm carried out proper affordability checks before lending to borrowers. The FCA says that it will look at the ‘affordability and sustainability’ of loans made in the year to…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it has commenced criminal proceedings against National Westminster Bank (NatWest) over allegedly failing to comply with money laundering rules (Money Laundering Regulations 2007. The FCA alleges that NatWest failed to adhere to the requirements of regulations 8(1), 8(3) and 14(1) of MLR 2007 between 11th November 2011…
Read moreThe Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has announced that it is suspending bailiff-led rental evictions until 31st May. The temporary law requiring landlords to give tenants 6 months’ notice before they can evict has also been extended for the same period. The ban on commercial evictions has also been extended to 30th June.…
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Nearly 250,000 households could be automatically switched onto more expensive ‘default’ energy tariffs in March if they do not switch tariff or provider when their deal comes to an end. In January, there are 182 fixed energy tariffs coming to an end, according to new research by comparethemarket.com. Rolling off fixed term deals onto default…
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One in four consumers encounters a problem when switching energy provider, in the past two years, according to new analysis by Resolver. Resolver surveyed its users and found that a quarter of people had encountered problems concerning blocked switches, meter reading discrepancies and demands for payment long after the switch had been completed – and…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed that repossessions may be allowed from 1st April but only as a last resort. The regulator implemented a moratorium amid the coronavirus crisis, protecting people from repossession proceedings, with this extended to April in January. The FCA has said that as of next month, firms are able to…
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In 2019, there was an estimated 13.4 per cent of households (3.18 million) in fuel poverty in England according to latest statistics released by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). In 2019, 3.18 million households were classed as fuel poor, a reduction of 1.6 percentage points (341,000 households) from 2018. The depth…
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Water regulator, Ofwat has announced the launch of a consultation on how to address increases in bad debt. The consultation aims to strengthen protections for non-household customers who are late paying their bills which the regulator says could result in higher than expected levels of bad debt in the business retail market. In April 2020…
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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced the extension of several Covid-19 support schemes until the end of September, including the furlough scheme, self-employed income and an extension of the universal credit uplift as part of his budget announcement. In response to the budget debt charity StepChange says that the budget announcement extends much-needed support for people…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed changes to its rules to allow for an increase in the single transaction contactless payment threshold from £45 to £100. The contactless threshold for multiple transactions will also increase from £130 to £300. The FCA saya that these changes will allow the industry to increase the limit for…
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Millions of consumers are at risk of being unable to afford their monthly phone bills as a result of mid-contract price hikes according to new research by Tesco Mobile. The findings come as some mobile providers have announced price hikes of up to 4.5 per cent for some SIM-only and pay monthly customers from April.…
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Energy regulator Ofgem has announced that 18 supplier firms failed to correctly protect customers’ tariff prices when they decided to either switch suppliers or tariffs after a price increase. The investigation found that over 1 million customers were overcharged over £7.2 million for the failings. Collectively, the suppliers are issuing refunds and redress payments worth…
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