Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced a ban on referral fees for debt packager firms. The ban applies to all new debt packager firms and will come into play for existing firms in October 2023, and follows a review that found evidence of debt packagers appearing to manipulate customers’ details so that they meet…
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Lenders are being urged to help their customers who are facing financial difficulty to take a proactive approach to the cost-of-living crisis to help prevent unmanageable debt and a deepening of stress-induced mental health crises, before they occur. TDX and Equifax’s say that it’s recommendations are supported by partners including UK Mortgages and the Centre…
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Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for May 2023 Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1,839.7 billion at the end of March 2023. The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £65,513 and per adult was £34,589, around 105.3% of average earnings. Net mortgage lending shrunk by…
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Temporary measures forcing lenders to offer greater support to borrowers in financial difficulties could become permanent, under new proposals announced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA also announced that 17 lenders will pay up to £47 million in redress to financially-distressed borrowers, after failing to offer appropriate support. The payments will be made…
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A new report by Christians Against Poverty (CAP) report has revealed a sharp rise in unsustainable budgets with the average person £242 short each month The research found that there has been a rise in the proportion of CAP client budgets that are unsustainable each year over the past five years, apart from 2020 when…
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Latest UK Finance data has reported a 50% increase in home repossessions in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2023, with over 1,000 homes taken into repossession due to homeowners struggling to keep up with mortgage repayments. In addition to the 750 mortgaged properties repossessed, 50 per cent greater than in the previous quarter. 410 buy-to-let mortgaged properties…
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New data from Experian finds that the average adult will wait until they have debt totalling £7,835 before seeking help, with one fifth of the nation (20%) saying they wouldn’t look for any support at all if they owed money. To support people who are finding money conversations difficult, Experian is partnering with Citizens Advice…
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The rising cost of food will overtake the price of energy as the driving force behind inflation over the summer, hitting poorer households the hardest, according to a forecast by the Resolution Foundation. The Foundation says that the cost of living crisis is often thought of as a cost of energy crisis. That is an…
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Over a third of adults (35 per cent) say that doing maths makes them feel anxious, while one in five (20 per cent) are so fearful it even makes them feel physically sick, according to new research from KPMG UK and the charity National Numeracy. The study of 3,000 UK adults found that numeracy gives…
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Data from UK Finance shows that the number of households falling into arrears increased in Quarter 1 of 2023. The figures showed that were 76,630 homeowner mortgages in arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance in the first quarter of 2023 2% greater than in the previous quarter. The figures also showed that…
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As many as one million people cut off their broadband in the last year as the cost-of-living crisis left them unable to afford internet access, according to new research from Citizens Advice. People receiving Universal Credit were badly affected. The research found them to be six times more likely to have stopped spending on broadband…
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Three energy suppliers have been made to pay compensation totalling £8 million for failing to supply a final bill on time to more than 100,000 households that had switched provider. Apasrt of the measures energy customers who have been overcharged are to receive a combined total of £2.7 million from two suppliers – Good Energy…
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80% of consumers getting debt help say their mental health has affected their finances, according to a survey carried out by Money Wellness, Money Wellness surveyed their existing customers to find out how being in debt had affected their mental wellbeing and find out more about the link between mental health problems and money worries.…
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