Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
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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Victims of bank transfer scams who have been denied refunds may be in line for compensation after the Lending Standards Board (LSB) found banks’ refund processes were flawed and ordered them to review old cases. The LSB conducted a review into how banks including Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest were adhering to a code of rules…
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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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The Insolvency Service has published the latest personal insolvency figure for England & Wales which indicates that the total numbers of insolvencies in Q1 2020 decreased when compared with the previous quarter and the same quarter in the previous year (Q1 2019). The figures largely pre-date the Government lockdown and wider impact of the Coronavirus…
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Non-bank UK subprime lenders are beginning to withdraw from the UK marketing according to research by Quickloans. The lender says that on March 15th, non-bank UK subprime lenders started to withdraw from the market, by March 21st all but one had ceased lending to new customers. The single lender that remained had switched to only…
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UK Finance has announced that over 1.6 million mortgage payment holidays have been offered to homeowners impacted by Covid-19. This means that one in seven mortgages in the UK are now subject to a payment holiday. For the average mortgage holder, the payment holiday amounts to £755 per month of suspended payments. Lenders continue to…
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The UK’s largest debt advice charities have welcomed emergency legislation banning bailiffs from visiting homes to enforce debts during Covid-19 restrictions – but say the Government ‘must go further’ in helping people struggling with council tax bills as a result of the outbreak. Citizens Advice, Money Advice Trust and StepChange Debt Charity raised concerns with…
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A new report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) makes a “powerful case” for the need for a Government Debt Management Bill, according to the Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline and Business Debtline. The CSJ’s newly-published report, ‘Collecting dust: A path forward for government debt collection’ outlines how central and…
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The number of County Court Judgments (CCJs) issued against consumers fell 16 percent in Q1 (January-March) 2020 compared to the same period last year, according to figures released by Registry Trust. The number is down from 321,281 in Q1 2019, to 269,249 this quarter. The number of consumer judgments in England & Wales issued this…
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Scottish consumers owed £14.3 million in registered debt in Q1 (January-March) 2020, according to figures released today by Registry Trust. The figures were a rise of 20 percent when compared to Q1 2019. The number of decrees saw a small increase of three percent compared to Q1 2019. The large rise in the value over…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed that it will be introducing the package of measures outlined last week to support consumer credit customers facing payment difficulties due to coronavirus (Covid-19). The targeted temporary measures being implemented are a 3-month payment freeze for motor finance, buy-now pay-later (BNPL), rent-to-own (RTO) and pawnbroking agreements. For high-cost…
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Metro Bank has committed to repay more than £10.5 million to its customer after it breached a legal order by failing to send texts warning people about unarranged overdraft charges. The bank was found to have breached Part 6 of the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017. This requires banks…
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