Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Household spending increased last month but continued to trail behind inflation rates, according to new figures from Barclays. The figures showed that consumer card spending rose four per cent year on year in March, less than half the latest CPIH inflation rate of 9.2 per cent, as consumers made further cutbacks to cope with the cost-of-living…
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New research by Fairer Finance has found that the majority of consumers are baffled by the most basic terms of their credit agreements, like how much interest they’ll be charged. Fairer Finance says that to protect consumers from being hoodwinked by credit providers, the Consumer Credit Act prescribes the information a company must give consumers…
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Latest figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business fell by 2% in February 2023 compared with the same month in 2022. In the first two months of 2023, new business was 1% lower than in the same period in 2022. The retail store and online credit sector…
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Latest Bank of England (BoE) data has shown that consumer credit grew at 7.7 percent in February 2023 as consumers borrowed an additional £1.4 billion in consumer credit, of which £0.8 billion was through other forms of consumer credit (such as car dealership finance and personal loans) compared with £1.7 billion borrowed during January. This…
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UK consumer confidence rose to its highest level since March 2022, latest figures from the GfK Consumer confidence barometer show. The Overall Index Score increased two points in March to -36. Three measures were up, one was unchanged and one was down in comparison to last month’s announcement. The index measuring changes in personal finances…
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The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has announced a 9.5% rise in complaints it received about financial products in the last six months of 2022. FOS received 79,921 compared to almost 72,978 in the first six months of 2022 (H1 2022). new complaints between the start of July and the end of December, compared to the…
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Research by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has found that one in four (26%) of savers are taking more risks with their money in an effort to land bigger returns amid the cost-of-living crisis. A poll of 4,000 adults saw 23% of consumers with a pension say they have either decreased the percentage they…
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Gifts and loans from the Bank of Mum and Dad totalled £8.8 billion in 2022, according to the latest analysis from property firm Savills. This amount has increased by almost £4 billion since the start of the pandemic (2019), as a result of a more stringent mortgage market and higher deposit requirements. In total, 170,000…
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Latest Bank of England data has revealed that in the last three months of 2022, mortgages agreed for the coming months were down by a third (33.5%) from the previous three months, and down a quarter (24.5%) in a year, excluding the onset of the pandemic when the market was effectively closed, this is the…
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UK Finance has released its latest Household Finance Review which showed a decline in consumer confidence and a drop in mortgage applications in Quarter 4 (Q4) 2022. Following the September 2022 mini budget consumer confidence fell below already-low levels. Despite the concerns of households about their finances, overall card spending remained steady in Q4. However,…
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Experian has announced plans to pilot a new service that could help millions of financially excluded people get better access to mainstream financial services. The new initiative aims to help people with little or no credit history, the so called ‘credit invisibles’ to build out their credit files in as little as three months, for…
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New research by TotallyMoney and PwC has found that 10.7 million women are locked out of accessing mainstream financial products. The research also found that on average, women have a 10 point lower credit score than men, a gap that exists throughout their entire lifetime. Lenders are 16% less likely to provide women with pre-approved…
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Latest Bank of England (BoE) data has shown that consumers borrowed in January with an additional £1.6 billion in consumer credit compared with £0.8 billion borrowed in December. This was split between £1.1 billion of borrowing on credit cards and £0.5 billion of borrowing through other forms of consumer credit. Credit figures show consumer credit…
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