Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Ofwat has written to Anglian Water, SES Water, Thames Water, and Yorkshire Water to give them early notice that it has substantial concerns about their proposed costs for maintaining business as usual service (base expenditure) for the 2020-25 period. In the letter, Ofwat has urged suppliers to reconsider the cost hikes and to act ‘in…
Read more
Renewable energy supplier Green Star Energy has been ordered by Ofgem to refund £350,000 to customers over failings for renters. Ofgem said 1,829 new tenants were unable to access their Green Star Energy accounts and therefore could not access cheaper tariffs. The problem came as a result of Green Star not updating its records or issuing…
Read more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Chair, Charles Randell, has announced the appointment of new Chairs for the FCA’s independent Practitioner Panel and Markets Practitioner Panel. Tulsi Naidu, Chief Executive of Zurich in the UK, becomes Chair of the FCA Practitioner Panel from 1 August 2019. She has been a member of the Panel since 2017…
Read more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a market study to examine how the credit information market operates and the impact it has on consumers. Firms use credit information when assessing credit risk and affordability. Therefore, it can impact how likely consumers are to be able to access a range of financial services, including mortgages,…
Read more
A new report released by the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) is calling on the retail banking sector to promote customer wellbeing. The Money and Pensions Service says that using saving goal-setting pots to spending analysis tools and features to find better energy deals, the retail banking sector has made significant inroads to help customers…
Read more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Bank of Scotland (BOS) £45.5 million for failures to disclose information about its suspicions that fraud may have occurred at the Reading-based Impaired Assets (IAR) team of Halifax Bank of Scotland. The FCA found that BOS failed to be open and cooperative and failed to disclose information appropriately…
Read more
British energy customers are facing a potential bill of £172 million from the collapse of 11 suppliers since January 2018. On top of this, thousands of people who owed money to failed suppliers lost out on consumer protections and faced aggressive debt collection as a result, according to new research by Citizens Advice. Energy suppliers…
Read more
The Government has announced a new breathing Space scheme which will protect Individuals and families struggling with problem debt. Under the new scheme, consumers will be given extra help and time to get their finances under control, City minister John Glen has revealed. The new plans will see the introduction of a 60-day Breathing Space…
Read more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its first annual perimeter report. The FCA perimeter determines which firms require authorisation and what level of protection consumers can expect for the financial services and products they purchase. The report, which will be published yearly, sets out: what the FCA does and doesn’t regulate what challenges the…
Read more
Citizens Advice has said that it is concerned that loyal customers have been penalised by nearly £3 billion since it submitted its super-complaint. The charity lodged a super-complaint in September calling for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to outline how the loyalty penalty could be fixed in five essential markets (mobile, broadband, home insurance,…
Read more
Firms that overcharge or mislead their customers could be hit with direct fines without the need to go through a court, under plans unveiled by Business Secretary Greg Clark. The government has confirmed it will consult on giving the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new powers to decide itself whether consumer law has been broken,…
Read more
Shell Energy Retail is to refund and compensate around 12,000 customer accounts it overcharged on its default tariffs when the price cap was introduced. In addition, the supplier will pay £200,000 to Ofgem’s consumer redress fund, equating to a total payment of £390,000. The price cap for 11 million customers on poor value default tariffs…
Read more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed it will introduce new rules in the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) market, saving consumers around £40-60 million a year. The changes, which include banning firms from charging backdated interest on money that has been repaid by the consumer during the BNPL offer period, will be in force…
Read more