Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
People need to build a pot of nearly £600,000 to enjoy a comfortable retirement, according to Interactive Investor analysis. The rising cost of living requires an extra £4,200 a year to maintain the same lifestyle as in April 2022, with workers needing to save another £68,700 to generate that amount of annual income. The report…
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Latest figures from UK Finance have shown that there has been a decline in mortgage lending, with lending for house purchases down 28% year-on-year in Quarter 2 (Q2). UK Finance says that the levels of housing market activity have remained very low by comparison with recent years in the first half of 2023. The industry…
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GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index improved five points in August, although it remains in negative territory at minus 25. Confidence in the general economic situation for the next 12 months increased by three points to minus 30. The major purchase index rose eight points to minus 24, while the personal finance 12-month forward index rose four…
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Nearly half of parents with children at private schools rely on family help to afford the fees with the Bank of Gran and Grandad the biggest source of funding, new research from Premium Credit, a leading provider of finance for school fees, shows. Its study found 47% admit to relying on financial support from family…
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Motorists are set to spend a record 1.5 million used cars on finance this year borrowing £23 billion on car finance new research by AA Car Finance has revealed. Consumers bought 388,309 second-hand cars on finance in the first three months of 2023, up from 379,512 the previous year. If current trends continue, consumers will…
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Research by TotallyMoney has found that almost 10 million (9.8 million) adults lack confidence to make financial decisions. Over the past two years, persistent inflation has driven household finances to the brink, with almost one in three adults (29%) saying they would be unable to cover an unexpected £100 expense*. At the same time, 11…
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The Bank of England has published the 2022 Annual Statistics for the credit union sector which revealed a record level of British credit union members, as well as the highest lending amounts ever seen. There was also the steepest rise in lending on record between 2021 and 2022. Total membership for 2022 was 1.41 million,…
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Latest figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew in June 2023 by 1% compared with the same month in 2022. In the first half of 2023, new business was 3% lower than in in the same period in 2022. The retail store and online credit sector…
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Using a credit card to withdraw money from an ATM (cash advance) comes with costly charges and higher interest rates. They can also impact one’s ability to borrow in future new research from TotallyMoney has found. Most big lenders charge interest rates close to 30%, with additional charges of up to 5%, or a minimum…
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The Bank of England has raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a 15-year peak of 5.25%. The increase to 5.25%, the fourteenth rate rise in a row, taking the base rate to the highest it’s been since April 2008. The MPC voted 6 to 3 in favour of…
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Latest Bank of England (BoE) data has shown that consumer credit rose to a five-year high in June. This follows a £500 million decrease in lending in May. Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals rose to £1.7 billion in June, the highest since April 2018. Of the £1.7 billion borrowed £1 billion was borrowed…
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In 2022, in England, the average house price was £275,000 and the average annual disposable household income was £33,000, so houses cost 8.4 times income according to latest Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS affordability threshold is five times earnings and we have been above this since 2017. In England, only the top 10%…
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Almost two in ten buy-to-let landlords (18%) said they would not raise rents for their tenants if their own mortgage rate increases when they come to remortgage whilst two in ten landlords (21%) were unsure what to do and 61% said they would raise the rent, according to research undertaken by Landbay. Over the past…
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