Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Latest Bank of England (BoE) data has shown that the annual growth rate for consumer credit rose for the sixth month in a row in March, accelerating from 7.7% in February to 7.9% with consumers borrowing an additional £1.6 billion in consumer credit in March, on net, compared with £1.5 billion borrowed during February. The…
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The total amount of housing equity available to homeowners aged over 55 now stands at an estimated £616 billion, a fall from £624 billion in Quarter 4 (Q4) in 2022 according to the latest Halifax quarterly regional house price index and analysed by Canada Life. The average price of a property in the South East…
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More than a quarter of adults (28%) with non-typical income streams, including those who are self-employed, freelance, or work on zero-hours contracts, have had a mortgage application rejected by a lender, according to new research from The Mortgage Lender (TML). Delving into the breakdown of employment types, those on zero hours contracts have the biggest…
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A survey by Age UK has found nearly a third of over-65s in Britain are ‘uncomfortable’ using online banking, leaving them at risk of financial exclusion. Those who were most likely to feel uncomfortable using online banking were aged over 85, female, on a low income, or more disadvantaged than their counterparts. As a result…
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A survey of consumers by NewDay has highlighted concerns about the lack of regulation in Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options, with only 16% of UK consumers deeming BNPL’ trustworthy’. Almost half (45%) worried that unregulated BNPL could get them into debt, and 58% of respondents had never used BNPL options and wouldn’t consider using…
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New data from the Bank of England has found that the total Credit Union borrowing hit a record £2 billion in 2022 with all-time high membership of unions at nearly 2 million. The data showed Credit Union membership rose by 60,863 to reach 1,980,964 at the end of 2022 as more borrowers widened their net…
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Self-regulatory body, the Lending Standards Board (LSB), is urging firms to prepare for the financial struggles customers will face this year, as incomes are eaten away by the higher cost of everyday life. In its 2023/24 Business Plan released today, the LSB outlines how its areas of focus for the year will include financial resilience…
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Research from Freedom Finance has revealed that the leading challengers and neo banks added over £1.5 billion of capacity to the UK’s unsecured personal loan market in 2022. The analysis reveals that a basket of challenger brands and digital-only lenders increased unsecured personal lending to consumers by over £1.5 billion, an increase of 34% on…
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Grandparents are supporting their children and grandchildren financially and through free childcare to help them cope with the high cost of living, Paragon Bank research has found. A survey of 2,700 over 55s found that 58% of those with children have supported them financially over the past six months, with over half (53%) of those…
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Households made an unprecedented £23.3 billion of mortgage overpayments last year, or £64 million per day, as mortgage rates spiked in the wake of the mini-budget new data from the Equity Release Council has revealed. The September fiscal statement prompted those able to do so to make lump sum payments and reduce their loan sizes…
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New data published by TransUnion, shows that consumer over four in ten (43%) UK consumers who said they have been targeted by fraud were targeted by phishing in the period between September and December 2022. The data also showed that smashing, fraudulent text messages meant to trick you into revealing data (40%) and vishing fraudulent…
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Latest market analysis by Octane Capital has found that since the Bank of England began to increase interest rates in December 2021, the total number of mortgage lending transactions has declined by 7.1% when compared to the same time period prior. The figure of 95,405 total mortgage lending transactions seen in February of this year…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says that improved overdraft rules that reduced high fees for unarranged borrowing removed complex charging structures and helped consumers who were repeatedly using their overdrafts. Rules introduced in April 2020 meant that banks couldn’t charge more for unarranged overdrafts than for arranged ones. They also had to remove high fees…
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