Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Bank of England has increased the base rate by 50 basis points to 4%, marking the tenth consecutive increase. The bank rate has continued to increase since December 2021, when it stood at just 0.25%. Commenting on the rise Richard Lane, Director of External Affairs & Operating Subsidiaries at StepChange Debt Charity, said “The…
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The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has confirmed the appointment of Aidene Walsh as its new Chair for a three-year term, effective immediately. Walsh has been Interim Chair of the PSR since April 2022. The PSR Chair is appointed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with approval from the Treasury. This is the first time the…
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Freedom Finance has announced that it has extended its relationship with Koyo. The new agreement will mean that customers declined for loans from Koyo will automatically be able to connect to Freedom Finance’s proprietary matching marketplace. The integration will link up declined customers to a panel containing over 100 of the UK’s leading lenders and…
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Homeowners borrowed £6.2 billion against the value of their properties through equity release in 2022, with this marking a 29% increase on 2021’s total latest Equity Release Council figures have indicated. The figures show that the total has more than doubled in size since 2017, when £3.06 billon was released. The number of owners who…
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Analysis from Freedom Finance has found that Credit Unions are lending record sums to borrowers in the UK as the cost of borrowing continues to rise. The latest Freedom Finance Credit Monitor revealed that average household quoted rates on credit cards hit 22.46%, their highest levels since 1998, while personal loans posted their highest quarterly…
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TransUnion, a global insights and information company, has announced a strategic investment in Bud Financial a specialist in Open Banking and data intelligence. TransUnion says that this dynamic partnership will help drive innovation and growth in the personal finance market and support better outcomes for consumers, with greater financial inclusion. Headquartered in the UK, Bud…
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Latest Bank of England (BoE) data has shown that consumers borrowed an additional £500 million in consumer credit in December, with this a steep drop on the £1.5 billion borrowed in November and below the previous six-month average of £1.2 billion. Net credit card repayments came in at £0.5 billion, while £1 billion of borrowing…
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Since acquiring Omni Capital in 2017, Castle Trust Bank has been able to offer accessible finance solutions to retailers, and over the past four years, LendingMetrics’ award-winning Auto Decision Platform (ADP) has powered their decisioning process. ADP allows credit risk professionals to run complex decisioning logic on credit data from multiple sources, in real-time with…
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A new study from Juniper Research has found that the number of credit cards issued via digital card issuance platforms will exceed 321 million globally by 2027, from 120 million in 2023. The research found that the growth of almost 170% reflects the use of new advanced digital capabilities, such as digital loyalty schemes and instant issuance,…
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With the Bank of England predicted to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 4% this Thursday, Credit app TotallyMoney has commissioned Moneycomms to calculate the impact of the expected interest rate hike on mortgage borrowers. The research found that For the average UK property costing £270,708 with a 75% LTV, a 0.5 percentage…
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New research from Freedom Finance has revealed the scale of demand for financial services products as more than two in five (43%) of UK adults – or around 23 million people – either considered or applied for at least one financial services product in the past year. The research also indicated that 25–34-year-olds were most…
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Attempted fraud in the financial industry has risen sharply since the start of the cost of living crisis began in late 2021. Fraud prevention provider Homeppl has confirmed this week that 91% of the fraud they flag in applications stems from applicants attempting to conceal their true financial status by modifying original financial documents or…
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New research by Defaqto has found that there are 14% more interest-free balance transfer deals on the market now compared to this time last year (75 vs 66 in 2022). The longest balance transfer deal without a fee has also improved to 22 months, compared to 21 months a year ago. Defaqto says that balance transfer…
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