Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Bank of England has raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5%, marking its 12th consecutive rate rise. The BoE revised up its growth forecasts from gloomy numbers released in February, but it also now expects inflation to be slower to fall than it had hoped, mostly due…
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People in the UK lost £1.2bn to fraud in 2022, the equivalent of £2,300 every minute according to bank industry group UK Finance. UK Finance said around three million scams took place – slightly less than the previous year – with frauds involving payment cards being the most common. UK Finance said losses were not always…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business fell by 4% in March 2023 compared with the same month in 2022. In Q1 2023, new business was 2% lower than in Q1 2022. The retail store and online credit sector reported new business up by 5% in…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer car finance new business volumes fell in March 2023 by 8% compared with the same month in 2022. The corresponding value of new business fell by 7% over the same period. In Q1 2023, new business fell 6% by value and 5%…
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Eight in ten tenants feel ‘trapped’ in the rental cycle – as ONS figures show house prices for first time buyers have risen by an average of 18 per cent in the last two years, an increase of £39,680. A study of 2,000 adults who live in a rental property found 86 per cent dream…
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The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has made announced that it has made two key appointments to its executive team appointing Alex Olive as General Counsel, and Natalie Golding as Chief Operating Officer. As General Counsel, Olive will be responsible for leading the PSR’s team of expert lawyers and for providing legal advice and managing legal…
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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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The Building Societies Association has announced that Rob Pheasey, Chief Executive of the Marsden Building Society, has been elected as the new Chair of the Building Societies Association (BSA). He takes up this role with immediate effect. Phesey has held the post of Deputy Chair since May 2021 and succeeds Mark Bogard, Chief Executive of…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set out actions to improve the confidence of whistleblowers – including sharing further information with whistleblowers on how it’s acted on their information; improving the use of information provided by whistleblowers; and improving how it captures information from whistleblowers. This follows a qualitative survey of whistleblowers who had provided information to…
Read moreThe Government is to launch a new National Fraud Squad and expand a 2019 ban on pensions cold-calling to all financial products. As part of the crackdown, Britain’s intelligence agencies will work with new regional squads of police officers to find and stop scammers targeting Britons from abroad while the technology enabling criminals to mass…
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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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