Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) anticipates that fraud and scams will constitute 35% of its banking and loan cases in the 2025/26 financial year, translating to over 37,000 complaints. This marks an increase from the projected 33,000 cases by the end of the current financial year. FOS also expects to handle around 240,000 new complaints…
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Mortgage affordability improved for the second consecutive month in November, new analysis from Stonebridge reveals. The mortgage and protection network’s latest Mortgage Affordability Index shows that monthly repayments accounted for 36.3% of the average borrower’s salary in November. This is down significantly from 40% in September and 38.7% in October, the data shows. The last…
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Latest research from Cifas has shown that nearly half (48%) of adults believe it is ‘reasonable’ to commit first-party fraud. First-party fraud, when someone knowingly misrepresents their identity or provides false information for financial or material gain, is on the rise. Examples include exaggerating salaries on mortgage applications, ordering goods online and falsely claiming they…
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced new measures which could see welfare fraudsters, who cheated the taxpayer out of £7 billion last year, banned from driving if they repeatedly fail to reimburse the public and repay their debt. As part of new legislation set to be introduced in Parliament to deliver the biggest…
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Latest data from UK Finance has found that in Quarter 3 (Q3) in 2024 there were 48,862 new buy-to-let loans advanced in the UK, worth £8.6 billion. This was up 6.5 per cent by number (8.9 per cent by value) compared with the same quarter in the previous year. The average gross buy-to-let rental yield…
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James Sleight and Stratford Hamilton of PKF Littlejohn Advisory have been appointed as Joint Administrators of London Community Credit Union (LCCU) LCCU whose membership covers residents and employees who live, work or study in the London boroughs of Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest or the City of London. LCCU’s Regulatory bodies have…
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New Freedom of Information (FOI) data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) analysed by Quilter has revealed a significant rise in the number of people taking out mortgages with a term of 35 years or more, which will see them paying off their loans well into their 70s. In the first nine months of 2024…
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Consumer confidence remained unchanged in the final quarter of 2024, with a marginal -0.2 percentage point drop, according to the latest Deloitte Consumer Tracker. Sentiment towards personal levels of debt rose by a significant +6 percentage points this quarter compared with Q4 2023. However, the improvement in confidence in debt levels did not compensate for a…
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Two men from London have been sentenced at Inner London Crown Court after intercepting postal correspondence and using confidential information to steal money from bank accounts. The case was investigated by the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a specialist police unit sponsored by the banking industry. The unit acted after the bank alerted…
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Outstanding balances on credit card accounts have grown by 6.4 per cent over the twelve months to October and 49.4 per cent of outstanding balances incurred interest compared to 50.2 per cent in October 2023 according to latest data from UK Finance. The data showed that there were 385.6 million credit card transactions in October, 2.6…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer car finance new business volumes fell in November 2024 by 2% compared with the same month in 2023. The corresponding value of new business grew by 4% over the same period. In the eleven months to November 2024, new business was 2%…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business fell in November 2024 by 1% compared with the same month in 2023. In the eleven months to November 2024, new business in this market was 1% higher than in the same period in 2023. The credit card and…
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The Bank of England’s quarterly credit conditions survey finds that lenders reported that demand for secured lending for house purchases increased in Q4 2024, but was expected to decrease in Q1 2025. Demand for secured lending for remortgaging also increased in Q4 2024, but similarly was expected to decline in Q1 2025. Lenders also reported…
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