Quarter of finance professionals fear AI could put them out of a job

19th September 2023 Consumer Lending | #AI#featured

Almost a quarter (23%) of senior finance professionals fear that artificial intelligence (AI) could put them out of a job, despite 24% of finance functions already underway with onboarding the new technology and 51% planning to in the next 12 months. These are among the findings of new research commissioned by AccountsIQ. The research found that…

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Half of all payments made using debit cards

19th September 2023 Consumer Lending | #payments

The total number of payments (consumer and business) in the UK last year increased to 45.7 billion, up from 40.4 billion in 2021 according to data analysis by UK Finance. Payments made by businesses accounted for 13 per cent of the number of all payments made in the UK during 2022. However, due to the…

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FCA uncovers misleading later life mortgage promotions

15th September 2023 Consumer Lending | #later life mortgages

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has forced lenders offering lifetime mortgages to withdraw or change over 400 misleading promotions. A market review by the regulator found that sales of these mortgages often did not meet expected standards. The review identified a number of bad practices, including companies promoting the benefits of their products without mentioning…

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Landlord borrowing increases by 19%

15th September 2023 Consumer Lending | #rental lending

The amount of money owed by landlords on  buy-to-let properties has increased by 19% in the last year according to research by Octane Capital The research found that the average total amount of each landlord’s buy to let mortgage debt, in the first quarter of 2022 landlords owed lenders an average of £467,548, which rose…

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Cash payments rise for first time in a decade

14th September 2023 Consumer Lending | #cash usage

Payments made with cash rose for the first time in a ten years on 2022. Latest figures from UK Finance has shown that whilst more than half of all payments are being made by debit card, the number of cash transactions has risen by around 400,000 to 6.4 billion in 2022. Overall, there were 45.7…

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Consumer car finance new business falls by 6%

12th September 2023 Consumer Lending | #car finance

New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) have shown that consumer car finance new business volumes fell in July 2023 by 6% compared with the same month in 2022. The corresponding value of new business fell by 5% over the same period.  In the seven months to July 2023, new business also…

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Consumer finance fell by 2% in July

12th September 2023 Consumer Lending | #consumer credit

New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business fell in July 2023 by 2% compared with the same month in 2022. In the seven months to July 2023, new business remained 3% lower than in the same period in 2022. The retail store and online credit sector…

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2.2 million live in areas without any banks

11th September 2023 Consumer Lending | #bank access

More than 2.2 million people in Britain live in areas without any banks, while millions more have access to only one branch, forcing them to travel long distances for face-to-face services. Major UK banks have closed over 80% of their branches in the past eight years. This means over half of the UK’s banking network…

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Generation Z more likely to be tricked into impersonation scams

8th September 2023 Consumer Lending | #fraud

Under 25s are more likely than older age groups to have been targeted by impersonation scams. An impersonation scam is where a criminal contacts you pretending to be a person or organisation you trust. These scams can be very sophisticated and often start with attempts to trick you into disclosing personal and financial information. Criminals…

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New lender set to offer 30 year mortgages after bank licence approval

8th September 2023 Alternative Consumer Lending |

New specialist lender, Perenna, has secured an unrestricted banking licence from Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). allowing it to introduce its long-term fixed rate mortgage products to the UK. Perenn is the first UK start-up to secure an unrestricted bank licence in 2023, will offer 20- or 30-year mortgages and an…

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Credit Union enters administration

6 Towns Credit Union has been placed into administration and has now stopped trading. James Sleight and Peter Hart of PKF Geoffrey Martin & Co have been appointed as joint administrators. 6 Towns Credit Union was a financial co-operative owned by its members. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) had also declared the credit union…

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One in five using BNPL to fund essentials

New research by the Money and Pensions Services (MaPS) has found that one in five (almost two million) Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) are using it for essential items such as groceries (11%), toiletries and hygiene (8%), household bills (5%) and fuel (4%). There are an estimated 10.1 million BNPL customers in the UK and…

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Market challenges taking their toll on mortgage activity

1st September 2023 Consumer Lending |

With interest rates still remaining high, EY ITEM Club has predicted that the housing market will remain sluggish for the foreseeable future. EY Item Club says that the step-down in an already weak housing market activity in July probably reflected early summer’s challenges for the mortgage market. Rates have retreated recently as markets rein back…

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