Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Research from Freedom Finance has revealed that the leading challengers and neo banks added over £1.5 billion of capacity to the UK’s unsecured personal loan market in 2022. The analysis reveals that a basket of challenger brands and digital-only lenders increased unsecured personal lending to consumers by over £1.5 billion, an increase of 34% on…
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New research from TransUnion has found that nearly four in 10 (38%) adults are using buy now, pay later i(BNPL) when shopping online, which is consistent with the previous year. More than half (53%) of those that used buy now, pay later in the past 12 months spent a total of between £100 and £499…
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Wiltshire and Swindon Credit Union have announced that they completed a merger agreement. The Credit Union will now be called Wiltshire and Swindon Credit Union (WASCU) says that the name change will reflect a new focus on encouraging savings and will continue to offer the same high level of service. Wiltshire and Swindon Credit Union…
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Sub-prime lender Amigo Loans is to be liquidated after months of trying to come up with a rescue plan ended in failure. The company said Amigo said it would stop lending with immediate effect and will be placed into an orderly wind-down, with all surplus assets transferred to the creditors of its compensation scheme. Those owed compensation…
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Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) against Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) firms have jumped 36% over the last three years according to research by Creditspring. The research found that 220 complaints were made against BNPL firms during 2022, compared to 208 in the previous year and 162 in 2020. Creditspring says that the…
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Zopa has announced that it is set to acquire buy now pay later (BNPL) specialist DivideBuy. Dividebuy provides point-of-sale (POS) finance technology and lending platforms. The transaction, which will complete in the next few months, marks Zopa’s first acquisition and follows just weeks after the digital lender raised a £75 million to fund acquisitions. DivideBuy…
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The government has announced its intention to regulate interest-free Buy-Now Pay-Later (BNPL) products. The government consulted on policy options to deliver a proportionate approach to regulation in October 2021, followed by a consultation response in June 2022. It is now consulting on the proposed draft legislation that will bring BNPL into Financial Conduct Authority regulation.…
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Consumers Spent £8 billion online in January whilst the use Use of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) rose to 12% according to research by Adobe analytics The data shows that UK consumers spent £8 billion online in January, 26.7% less than in December 2022, and a year-on year decrease of 1.4%. It also identified an…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has publicly censured Amigo Loans for failing to conduct adequate affordability checks on borrowers and guarantors. The FCA says it would have imposed a fine of £72.9 million however Amigo demonstrated that this would cause it serious financial hardship. A fine would also have threatened Amigo’s ability to meet its…
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New research by Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found that billions of pounds loaned by the ‘bank of mum and dad’ to help with property purchases and to boost the finances of newly married offspring are helping to fuel rising levels of inequality. The research found that £17 billion is gifted or loaned informally…
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New figures out this week from the Bank of England show that loans made to members of the UK’s 388 member-owned, not for profit credit unions stood at a record high of £1.92 billion in the third quarter of 2022. This was £51 million higher than the previous quarter and up £255 million compared with…
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Homeowners borrowed £6.2 billion against the value of their properties through equity release in 2022, with this marking a 29% increase on 2021’s total latest Equity Release Council figures have indicated. The figures show that the total has more than doubled in size since 2017, when £3.06 billon was released. The number of owners who…
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Analysis from Freedom Finance has found that Credit Unions are lending record sums to borrowers in the UK as the cost of borrowing continues to rise. The latest Freedom Finance Credit Monitor revealed that average household quoted rates on credit cards hit 22.46%, their highest levels since 1998, while personal loans posted their highest quarterly…
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