Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Consumer spending fell in January at the fastest rate in seven months, according to Barclaycard. Overall consumer spending shrank by 16.3% in year-on-year terms last month – much sharper than the 1.9% fall in November. The fall in spending was the sharpest decline since May 2020, as the retail, hospitality and travel sectors felt the…
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Research for Indesser, a joint venture between the Cabinet Office and TDX Group, has shown that over half of consumers (53%) have improved their financial tracking and budgeting during Covid-19. The pandemic has changed some people’s financial behaviour for the better, with 43% of respondents paying off more debt than before, and over a third…
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New Insolvency Service guidance has been published which makes Insolvency Practitioners responsible for the advertising by the firms and lead generators who introduce customers to them. The guidance reflects recent rulings from the Advertising Standards Authority on misleading advertising in the sector as well as concerns raised in the Woolard report for the Financial Conduct…
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A new survey by the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) has indicated that the asset finance, consumer finance and motor finance industry sees opportunities for growth over the next year despite the heightened uncertainty caused by the latest restrictions to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. The association surveyed its members with respondents divided on the…
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New research by Resolver has found that in the last twelve months alone, there were 8,577 complaints about buy now, pay later lending with 17,726 have been made in the two and a half years that Resolver has been helping people to complain about this type of credit. The data also reveals that problems are…
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Over two-fifths (44%) of UK adults who used a Buy Now Pay Later scheme (BNPL) to fund their Christmas shopping are now concerned about their ability to repay, according to the latest findings by comparethemarket.com. Worryingly, one-fifth (20%) are unable to meet these repayments without having to take on more debt, reflecting the concern that these…
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Latest figures from the Bank of England (BOE) have shown that lending fell by £16.6 billion over the past year. The figures also reveal that deposits in bank and building society accounts rose by almost £ 21 billion in December, whereas pre-pandemic they typically increased by about £5 billion a month. Separately the figures showed…
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The Government has announced that it will legislate to bring currently unregulated, interest-free Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) into Financial Conduct Authority regulation in order to protect consumers under new plans announced by the government. The Government says that buy-now-pay-later products are rapidly increasing in popularity, with the volume of transactions tripling in 2020 as the pandemic drove…
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A growing proportion of consumers are taking control of their finances by seeking financial products for debt consolidation, according to the latest findings from Experian’s Credit Barometer. Searches for balance transfer cards via Experian’s comparison services have risen in January, from 31% of the total credit card searches in December 2020 to 37% in January…
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As 2020 came to a close, the fuller picture of Covid-19’s effect on UK household finances continued to emerge, demonstrating the significant mounting financial impact of the pandemic, according to the January 2021 Money Statistics, produced by The Money Charity. Moving into the final month of 2020, the uneven and heavy financial burden being shouldered…
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Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for January 2021 Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1,692.5 billion at the end of November 2020. The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £60,720 and per adult was £31,940, around 108.0% of average earnings. Net mortgage lending rose by…
Read moreThe Financial Conduct Authority has confirmed that it has extended its current guidance so firms should not enforce mortgage repossessions before 1st April as a result of the pandemic, except in exceptional circumstances. The guidance on consumer credit will permit firms to repossess goods and vehicles from 31st January 2021. In November 2020, banks and…
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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published two rulings that have banned misleading adverts by two commercial debt advice firms. The rulings involve commercial debt advice companies, National Direct Service and Fidelitas Group who the ASA says made various misleading claims, in paid-for search ads and on their websites, about their services. An investigation was…
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