Overdue bills and housing arrears triple in a decade

14th June 2017 Consumer Collections |

Debt charity Christians Against Poverty has discovered that household bills and costs have tripled in the past ten years. A decade ago, the average client owed £1,412 in priority arrears, a figure representing just nine per cent of that person’s whole debt problem. In 2016, it had ballooned to £4,582, nearly a third (32%) of…

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Payday Loan complaints rise in FOS report

13th June 2017 Consumer Collections |

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has published it’s annual Complaints report which indicates a continued rise in complaints about payday loan companies.  FOS said there were 10,529 complaints about payday loan companies in 2016/17. This is more than a three-fold increase since the 3,216 complaints in 2015/16. Complaints about consumer credit rose by 89%.  25,984 complaints…

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Consumer spending falls for the first time in four years

12th June 2017 Consumer Collections |

UK household spending has fallen for the first time since 2013. Kevin Jenkins, UK & Ireland Managing Director at Visa said “Consumer spending fell for the first time in nearly four years in May, following some marked slowdowns in growth since the beginning of the year. Our Index clearly shows that with rising prices and stalling…

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Consumer finance new business decreases by 2% in April

9th June 2017 Consumer Collections |

New figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business fell by 2% in April, compared with the same month last year. Credit card and personal loan new business together grew by 3% compared with April 2016, while retail store and online credit new business fell by 4%.…

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FEATURE: Innovation in Digital Collections Technology

1st June 2017 Consumer Collections |

The importance of addressing the priority digital collections needs within your business “New and improved” technology is touted as the solution to the collection industry’s growing complexity. But just as endless “improvements” overhyped in grocery products lead to consumer distrust, technology-solution claims deserve a similar sceptical reaction. Consumers and collectors alike would benefit from taking…

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Credit card borrowing growing at the fastest rate since 2006

1st June 2017 Consumer Collections |

Latest Bank of England figures show that the annual growth of consumer credit (which includes credit cards, personal loans and overdrafts) was up 10.3% in April, up from the 10.2% recorded in March, but lower than February’s 10.5% rise. There were 64,645 home loans approved in April, the lowest number since September last year. The…

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Irish drawdowns of consumer loans exceeded repayments by €158 million in April

31st May 2017 Consumer Collections |

The Central Bank of Ireland has released Ireland’s Money and Banking Statistics for April 2017. Drawdowns of consumer loans exceeded repayments by €158 million in April, the largest monthly increase since January 2011. The new lending largely comprises medium term loans, which typically include car loans, furniture and holiday loans. Here is an overview of the latest…

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Debit card payments set to overtake cash in 2018

31st May 2017 Consumer Collections |

Rapid growth in the use of contactless cards means cash will be overtaken as Britain’s most frequently used payment method by the end of 2018, according to a new report published by Payments UK, the trade association for the payments industry. This latest forecast still does not herald the demise of cash – even in…

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Consumer Credit grows by 6.4% in April

25th May 2017 Consumer Collections |

The British Bankers Association (BBA) latest high street banking data shows that consumer credit growth was 6.4% in April, compared with 6.1% in the previous month. Gross mortgage borrowing totalled £13.4 billion in April.* Net mortgage borrowing was 2.4% higher than a year ago. Eric Leenders, BBA Managing Director for Retail Banking said “As the…

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More than a million cancel credit & debit cards due to fraud

24th May 2017 Consumer Collections |

More than one in ten (12%) Britons have had to cancel a credit or debit card in the past year due to online fraud, according to new research by comparethemarket.com. The latest statistics show a worsening state of affairs when it comes to cybercrime, with the number of people cancelling cards rising from 4.5 million…

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Payment card spending in March 2017 increases by £335 million

23rd May 2017 Consumer Collections |

The UK Cards Association has released its latest car expenditure statistics for March 2017 Highlights from the statistics include: Payment card spending in March 2017 was £57.8 billion, up by £335 million (0.6 per cent) on February Contactless payments amounted to 32 per cent of card purchases, an increase from 15 per cent a year…

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Fraud security risk for consumers who do not regularly change passwords

17th May 2017 Consumer Collections |

Less than half (49%) of consumers regularly change their passwords as a way to prevent fraud, according to research from Callcredit Information Group.  Yet, the majority (66%) perceive the risk of identity theft and online fraud as one of their biggest concerns around sharing personal information online. The research, commissioned by Callcredit Information Group as…

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Irish debit card spending increases by 14%

15th May 2017 Consumer Collections |

The Central Bank of Ireland has released its latest Credit and Debit Card Statistics from Quarter 1 in 2017. Here is an overview of the key statistics in the report Debit card point of sale spending in March increased 14 per cent on the same month in 2016.  In March 2017over €2.7 billion of debit card…

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