Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Bank of England (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has today voted to increase interest rates to 0.75 percent, its highest level since 2009. Commenting on today’s decision by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, StepChange Debt Charity urges policymakers to keep a…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has opened a new consultation on rules and guidance to improve conduct standards and communications in the payment services and e-money sectors. The Consultation Paper proposes to extend the application of the Principles for Businesses and certain specific rules about promotions and communications so that they cover wider categories of…
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Customers of landline, broadband, TV and mobile services must be told when they are approaching the end of their minimum contract period, under new rules proposed by Ofcom. More than 20 million customers of these services are currently outside their minimum contract period, and more than 10 million are on deals with an automatic price increase…
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Ofgem has chosen Octopus Energy Limited to take on supplying the customers of Iresa, which went out of business last week. The appointment follows a competitive process run by Ofgem to get the best deal possible for Iresa’s customers. Octopus Energy is offering Iresa’s customers its “Flexible Octopus” tariff, which is one of the most competitive…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published it’s ”Assessing creditworthiness in consumer credit’ policy statement which provides rules and guidance on assessing creditworthiness in consumer credit. The announcement coincides with the Bank of England revealing the amount of credit held by UK households increased by £3.7 billion in June and the rate of credit card…
Read moreThe Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published the outcome of a programme of behavioural research. The research looked at different ways repayment options can be presented to credit card customers to encourage those making low repayments to repay more when they can afford it. Together with the measures introduced on persistent credit card debt and earlier intervention (which…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it has banned four directors of an online brokerage who mislead customers. David James Carter Mullins, Edward John Booth, Christopher Paul Brotherton and Mark Robert Kennedy, the former directors and shareholders of Secure My Money Limited (now dissolved) have all been banned. The firm took fees of…
Read moreThe Payments Systems Regulator (PSR) has set out its plans to carry out a market review into card-acquiring services and has published draft terms of reference for consultation. PSR says card payments are critical to the smooth running of the UK economy. They are a popular way for consumers to pay merchants for goods and services, and…
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New data published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as part of its annual report has revealed that 0.3 per cent of borrowers has failed to make their mortgage payments within six months of taking out their loan. This figure compares to 0.25 per cent of households falling behind on their payments after six months…
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The HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced the results of the tender process for Approved Enforcement Agency Services. The provider companies appointed are Capita Business Services, Excel Civil Enforcement, Jacobs Enforcement and Outsourcing UK. In 2017 HMCTS commenced a procurement exercise to re-tender the Approved Enforcement Agencies contracts. Approved Enforcement Agencies act on behalf of…
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The government has confirmed that the domestic gas and electricity (Tariff Cap) bill has received royal assent. The bill will impose a temporary cap on the price of all default tariffs in the energy market until at least 2020. Commenting on the announcement Gillian Guy, Chief Executive at Citizens Advice, said “The energy price cap will…
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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has raised concerns that Experian’s purchase of ClearScore may reduce competition for people who want to check their credit score. ClearScore and Experian are the first and second-largest providers of free credit score checking in the UK. Experian is also the largest paid credit score checking provider. Millions of…
Read moreThe New Payment System Operator (NPSO) has confirmed the representation of its newly-created Participant Advisory Council: Twelve experts and executives from across the payment services landscape have been appointed, to help ensure that views from the industry are heard and acted upon by the NPSO. The Participant Advisory Council will operate as a non-executive advisory…
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