Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
UK Finance has warned that home repossessions may surge tenfold in 2022 as coronavirus support measures come to an end, saying that while 2,900 properties were repossessed by lenders in 2020, this could rise to 22,300 in 2022. Around 81,300 households were in home loan arrears last year, but figures suggest this could climb to…
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The UK credit card market is showing signs of recovery, with new accounts up by 16% month-on-month in November, and by 162% since the May 2020 low, according to data from the latest Equifax Market Pulse series. Credit limits, an indicator of lenders’ risk appetite and applicants’ financial health, are however still sliding, down 10%…
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One in three gifted more cash to loved ones last Christmas than they did the year before, despite 40% scaling back overall Christmas spending according to new analysis by Paragon Bank. A survey of more than 2,600 customers carried out by the Bank found that 37% of savers were more likely to choose to gift…
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Latest figures published by UK Finance show there were 130,000 mortgage payment deferrals in place at the end of December 2020. It means that one in 84 mortgages in the UK were subject to a payment deferral at the end of last year, compared to one in six in June 2020. The number of mortgage…
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Research from credit-builder credit card, Vanquis reveals the average consumer wants to save more (27%), spend less (24%), pay off debts (15%) and make a budget plan (13%) this year, while one in three (33%) of those with existing debt say they want to start paying it off. The research comes as an estimated 1.2…
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Latest data published by UK Finance has revealed that spending across debit and credit cards fell in October 2020 compared to the previous month, as additional social distancing measures were introduced across the UK. There were 1.7 billion debit and credit card transactions in the UK in October, a 0.4 per cent decline from September…
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Household financial wellbeing declined faster at the end of 2020 than at any time during the five years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Scottish Widows UK Household Finance Index (HFI). The headline seasonally adjusted index which measures households’ overall perceptions of financial wellbeing registered at 41.1 during the final quarter of 2020,…
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Younger drivers more than twice as likely as older generations to have deferred car financing repayments in 2020 according to new research by Deloitte. The research, based on responses from more than 1,500 driving-age consumers in the UK, revealed that 27% of drivers aged 18-34 have requested a payment deferral on car financing in 2020,…
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Nearly a third of people (34%) organising a funeral for a COVID-19 related death has been pushed into financial difficulties according to Sunlife’s ‘Cost of dying’ report. The report also reveals that funeral costs have risen for the seventeenth year in a row, with the average cremation now costing £3,885 and the average burial £5,033,…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business fell in November 2020 by 16% compared with the same month in 2019, and remained 18% lower in the eleven months to November 2020 than in the same period in 2019. The retail store and online credit sector reported…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that Second charge mortgage new business volumes fell by 28% in November 2020 Commenting on the latest new business figures for the second charge mortgage market, Fiona Hoyle, Head of Consumer & Mortgage Finance at the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA), said “The level…
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According to KIS Finance’s financial survey, only 31% of adults in the UK could correctly identify what an APR (Annual Percentage Rate) is, including its purpose and how it should be used. Whilst 68% of credit card holders don’t know what an APR is, bearing in mind that the APR is undoubtedly one of the…
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Two-thirds of consumers still don’t trust online banking, despite branch closures forcing many to go digital according to new research by SmartSearch. The research has found that since January 2015, banks and building societies have closed 3,770 branches in the UK leading to a seismic shift towards online banking. Yet, two thirds (66%) of the population do not trust…
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