Credit, collections & insolvency news
A specialist police unit which targets the organised criminal gangs behind fraud prevented a record £101 million from being stolen in 2021, the highest amount in the unit’s 20-year history. The Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) which is funded by the banking and finance industry, is made up of officers from the City…
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New research by Yorkshire Building Society has found that nearly nine out of ten (87%) 11-18-year-olds have limited knowledge about managing money with 14% say they know nothing at all about money management. Only around a third (36%) of 11-18-year-olds in the UK surveyed say they have learnt about finances at school despite it being…
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New figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew by 19% in March 2022 compared with the same month in 2021. In Q1 2022 overall, new business was 34% higher than in the same quarter in 2021. The credit card and personal loan sectors together reported…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that the consumer car finance market reported new business volumes up in March 2022 by 2% compared with the same month in 2021. The corresponding value of new business grew by 8% over the same period. In Q1 2022 as a whole, new business…
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The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) has announced a proposal to withdraw its mortgage affordability recommendation. The current requirement requires mortgage lenders to assess affordability by applying an interest rate stress test to determine whether borrowers could still afford their mortgage payments if their mortgage rate were to increase by three per cent. In a statement,…
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The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has taken action against National Westminster Bank Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, Ulster Bank Ltd and Coutts & Company for overcharging interchange fees on credit cards. The regulator’s action has made sure that those who were overcharged by the banks got their money back. The PSR has also fined…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has granted AperiData, AISP (Account Information Service Provider), CIS (Credit Information Service), and CRA (Credit Reference Agency) permissions. With the FCA’s granting of permissions, AperiData says that it is uniquely positioned to begin putting their services to greater and more innovative uses. The company says that it operates at the…
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Laura Barley has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for TransUnion in the UK. TransUnion pledged in 2019 that it aimed to achieve gender parity in senior leadership by 2030 in all the regions it operates in. The UK leadership team, which is now 50% female, is a testament to that commitment being put…
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The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has welcomed the PSR Panel’s newly published Digital Payments Initiative report. The report, commissioned by the PSR, highlights the challenges to the take-up of digital payments and what the potential solutions and regulatory actions could look like. The Initiative concluded there are four high-level areas of focus to address to…
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Data covering quoted household interest rates on consumer credit products released by the Bank of England has revealed the rising cost of borrowing for UK households according to analysis by Freedom Finance. With the Bank hiking interest rates by 0.25% last Thursday and inflation expected to show a climb yet again for April, the data…
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Jaja Finance has announced it has signed a deal with Asda, in conjunction with global payments technology leader Visa, to provide digital, reward-led credit cards to Asda’s 18 million customers. The new credit card, to be launched later this summer, will allow customers the opportunity to earn rewards on their credit card spend which they…
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New research by Hargreaves Lansdown says that one in ten use Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) to pay for essentials whilst a further one in four would consider using it. The research also found that one in three people have either used Buy Now Pay Later to buy things like furniture, technology and white goods,…
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With the announcement this week that UK interest rates have risen to the highest level since 2009, Cifas, the UK’s leading fraud prevention service, is warning that the rise in living costs could see a sharp rise in consumers and businesses being targeted by criminals. According to the latest Cifas data, fraud is already on…
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