Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has released its latest report which shows that it has dealt with around 3,300 inquiries about debt collection and took on over 1,000 new complaints for investigation in 2018. The complaints cover credit and consumer loans, such as mortgages, credit cards and personal or business loans. They don’t include household debts…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today set out how it would use the temporary transitional power in the event the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement. The Treasury has put forward draft legislation that would make transitional provisions if the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement. This is intended to minimise the disruption for…
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The Insolvency Service has published a review of the monitoring and regulation of Insolvency Practitioners (IPs). Following the introduction of “Regulatory Objectives” for Recognised Professional Bodies (RPBs) in October 2015, the Insolvency Service has undertaken a number of reviews to assess the effectiveness of the regulatory regime. As part of that, the Insolvency Services has visited…
Read moreThe Financial Conduct Authority’s new rules on authorised push payment (APP) fraud have launched today (Thursday 31st January). Under the new rules, victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud can now complain to the payment services provider (PSP) receiving their payment. In the case of APP fraud, the PSP is often a bank which holds the…
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Debt charities, StepChange and the Money Advice Trust have responded to the HM Treasury’s consultation on debt “breathing space” and a new defined statutory debt repayment plan (SDRP). The scheme will enable, people who enter into arrangements to pay back their debts in full whilst getting a level of statutory protection that has previously only been…
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Our Power, an energy supplier with about 38,000 domestic customers, has ceased to trade. Under Ofgem’s safety net, the energy supply of Our Power’s customers will continue and pre payment meters can be topped up as normal. The outstanding credit balances of domestic customers will be protected. Ofgem will choose a new supplier to take…
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The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has published its final terms of reference for a market review into the supply of card-acquiring services. Card payments are an increasingly important payment method, with debit cards becoming the most frequently used payment method in 2017. For businesses to accept card payments, they need to buy card-acquiring4 services. The cost of…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published new data on insights and trends in the high-cost short-term credit (HCSTC). The data indicates that lending volumes in the market remain well below the levels seen in 2013, but have risen since 2016. Over 5.4 million loans were made in the year to 30 June 2018, with 10…
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Complaints about payday lenders in have increased as concerns about the solvency of firms and lax lending practices in the sector persist according to the Financial Ombudsman Services (FOS) Caroline Wayman, Chief Executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) said the state watchdog typically deals annually with around 100,000 complaints that financial firms have not…
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A new Tenant Fees bill has passed its final stage in Parliament before royal assent, the new bill will stop renters being forced to pay £160 million a year in unfair and uncompetitive fees according to Citizens Advice. Citizens Advice says it has called for a ban on fees for the past decade and worked…
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has submitted its response to the FCA concerning its proposals to introduce price controls in the Rent to Own market. In a statement, the Centre said: We very much welcome the FCA’s announcement to introduce price controls in view of the considerable harm being caused in this sector, and the very low incomes that customers…
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The Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) has announced a new regulatory framework for the continuous monitoring of the use of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) by the high-volume IVA providers. The Insolvency Service classifies high-volume as those firms that are responsible for 2% of the total number of IVAs annually. An IVA is one of the…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed plans to free ‘mortgage prisoners.’ Mortgage prisoners are defined by around 140,000 homeowners are trapped on loans with high interest rates. The plans were revealed by the FCA’s Chief Executive Andrew Bailey’s letter to the Treasury Committee on improving switching options for mortgage customers who are currently unable to do so,…
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