Contactless spend increases by 30% since new £100 limit was introduced

UK Finance’s latest card spending data shows the average amount spent per contactless card transaction rose by almost 30 per cent following the contactless limit increase to £100 in October 2021. In September 2021, when the contactless limit was £45, the average spend per contactless payment was £11.86, this increased to £15.30 in December. The…

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Consumer finance new business grew by 51% in January

New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew by 51% in January 2022 compared with the same month in 2021. In the twelve months to January 2022, new business grew by 23% compared with the same period in 2021. The credit card and personal loan sectors…

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Oakbrook and Experian agree affordable credit pilot

10th March 2022 Consumer Lending |

Digital lending platform Oakbrook has announced that it will soon be able to offer an additional service to enable more people access to fairer and affordable credit, as they pilot Experian’s Work Report tool, a feature of Experian’s Affordability Passport, to enhance their loan application process. Using the Work Report feature, customers applying for a loan with…

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Value of mortgage advances increases to £70bn

9th March 2022 Consumer Lending | #mortgages

The latest mortgage lenders’ statistics suggest the housing market is cooling down, according to property experts. In the latest figures published by the Bank of England, the outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans was £1,613.4 billion at the end of Q4, 2021 – up 4.7% on the same period the year before. The value…

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Consumer card spending grew 13.7% in February

9th March 2022 Consumer Lending | #spend

Latest data from Barclaycard has revealed that spending on essential items rose 12 per cent in February. This increase was largely driven by an 11.2 per cent rise in spend on fuel, likely due to climbing prices at the pump, as well as the easing of work-from-home guidance encouraging more Brits to commute. While supermarket…

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More than 5.5m adults fell victim to identity fraud in the last 12 months

9th March 2022 Consumer Lending | #fraud

Nearly one in 10 smartphone users in the UK (9%), as many as 5.7 million people, have fallen victim to identity fraud in the last 12 months, according to research by GBG, the experts in digital identity. GBG’s State of Digital Identity Report 2022 has revealed that young adults aged 18-to-24 were hardest hit with…

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15m borrowers have a ‘poor understanding’ of how to compare loan costs

8th March 2022 Consumer Lending |

Millions of people are failing to compare lending products from at least two providers and risk not getting the best deal available to them, according to analysis of FCA data from Freedom Finance, The data shows a widespread lack of shopping around across most loan products, and a low-level understanding of terms like APR that…

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Consumer borrowing falls in January

Latest Bank of England (BOE) data shows that borrowing declined in January, with borrowing using credit cards, personal loans and overdrafts totalling around £600m compared to £800m in December. This was split between £100m of additional borrowing on credit cards, and £500m in borrowing in other forms of consumer credit (such as car dealership finance…

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Credit card fraud hit a five-year high

Latest data from the National Fraud Hunter Prevention Service, analysed by Experian, found the detected fraud rate for cards rose by 42% between October and December 2021, when compared to the previous quarter, the highest rate since 2017. Typically, an increase in fraudulent activity is detected over the festive shopping period, but 2021 proved especially…

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Bank of England considers mortgage affordability rule changes

Rules introduced in 2014 by the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) to restrict the amount mortgage applicants could borrow may be reversed following a review by the Bank of England (BoE). Since 2014, Banks have had a limit on the number of mortgages they can offer where someone is borrowing more than 4.5 times their salary.…

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TransUnion and CreditLadder agree property rental payments credit report partnership

Global information and insights company TransUnion has announced that it has partnered with CreditLadder, the rent reporting platform, to incorporate UK tenants’ rental payments into their credit information. Rental payment history of those individuals using CreditLadder can now be recorded in their TransUnion credit report, giving finance providers a more holistic view of financial standing…

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Loan comparison searches increase by 101%

24th February 2022 Consumer Lending | #consumer loans

New analysis from Experian finds that comparison searches for loans have doubled over the last year, while consumer research reveals that almost one in five consumers (18%) intend to, or already have, borrowed money in 2022. When comparing this January with the same month in 2021, loan searches increased by 101%, while loan applications increased…

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60% of BNPL customers are worried about impact on their credit score

A new survey from UK fintech Pave shows the vast majority of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) customers are unclear about the impact of BNPL on their credit scores, leading to the majority of customers to say they were worried about its impact. The research found that 78% of respondents (18-44) who have used Buy…

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