Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Insolvency Service has published its latest figures which indicated that in September personal insolvencies in England and Wales increased to 7,450 in September 2020 compared to August’s figure of 6,372, but remained well below September 2019’s figure of 12,256 There were, on average, 4,639 IVAs registered in each of the 3 months ending September…
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Totallymoney.com research has revealed how much customers could save by avoiding finance options at car dealerships with £300 million being lost every year across the UK due to commission-focused dealerships The research showed that the majority of new car registrations (nine in ten) were financed through dealerships in 2018 with nearly three-quarters of people (68%)…
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Almost three million households owe £188 million to their energy suppliers before winter has even begun, half a million more households than 2019 according to the latest winter energy debt research from Uswitch.com. The jump in the number of homes in debt comes at a time when energy accounts should ideally be in credit after…
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The letters borrowers receive from their lenders when they are seriously behind on repayments will be easier to understand and less intimidating as a result of new rules proposed by the Treasury. Currently, lenders have to comply with a 1970s law that dictates the text of official default notices issued by the banks. Default Notices…
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Tonik Energy, a gas and electricity supplier with around 130,000 domestic customers has ceased to trade. Under Ofgem’s safety net, the energy supply of Tonik Energy’s customers will continue and outstanding credit balances of domestic customers will be protected. Ofgem will choose a new supplier to take on all of Tonik Energy’s customers. This supplier…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has opened application windows for two ‘sandbox’ services to support innovative firms tackling challenges caused by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Application windows for Cohort 7 of the Regulatory Sandbox and the pilot of a new Digital Sandbox initiative have opened with an emphasis on supporting products and solutions that will assist consumers and firms…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has updated its rules ahead of the Brexit transition period coming to an end. While the new rules will apply from January 2021. The FCA has said it will temporarily waive some of the rules, meaning businesses can continue to comply with existing requirements for a limited period – although…
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The Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA’s) initial findings on the water industry’s appeal against the latest price controls have been published following findings from its redetermination of Ofwat’s proposed 2020-25 price controls. Ofwat published its price controls for 2020-25 in December 2019. These set out the total amount water companies can charge for water in…
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Credit Connect’s hosted it’s first-ever Online Collections Technology Think Tank last week which saw collections strategies and the impact of the pandemic discussed by eleven collections professionals from a variety of industry sectors. The themes of business transformation, customer engagement, vulnerable customers, affordability, and open banking collections were discussed by panelists and Chair Vanessa Northam…
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The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has published its latest complaints data which saw complaints fall to its lowest level in seven years. In data for the most recent six-month period (1st January to 30th June), FOS dealt with just over 118,000 complaints compared to 188,000 in the first half of 2018 and 313,000 in the…
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Three-quarters of older homeowners would welcome additional support from advisers if they were vulnerable according to new research from more2life. More2life asked homeowners aged 55 and over how they would react if their adviser offered them support because they thought they were vulnerable, three-quarters (74%) said they would be comfortable with this. However, even though…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its second annual perimeter report. The FCA perimeter determines which activities require authorisation and what level of protection consumers can expect for the financial services and products they purchase. The perimeter is decided by the Government and Parliament through legislation. In June 2019, the FCA published its first…
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Two-thirds of water companies reported a fall in written complaints from their customers last year – but a rapid improvement is needed from two of England’s suppliers. That’s according to the latest annual household customer complaint handling report from the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), which compares the performance of water companies in England and Wales across…
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