ICO fines Provident over nuisance texts

17th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

Credit company Provident, responsible for sending nearly one million nuisance texts in six months has been fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Provident Personal Credit is based in Bradford, employed third party affiliate companies to send 999,057 unsolicited text messages on its behalf to promote personal loans for its brand Satsuma Loans. This…

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Consumer Credit Awards winners announced

17th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

The winners of the UK’s largest consumer-voted awards for the consumer credit industry have been revealed at a ceremony in Mayfair. Over 27,000 consumers voted in this year’s Consumer Credit Awards, sharing their thoughts on 137 firms. Launched in 2016, Birmingham-based not-for-profit Fair For You took home 2 awards, including ‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Consumer Credit…

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Equifax and ENSEK agree credit assessment partnership

17th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

Equifax and Energy Solutions company ENSEK, have formed a joint partnership to support identity verification and credit assessment services for new-to-market energy suppliers. The integration between Equifax and ENSEK will supply real-time consumer and commercial data to energy providers, enabling them to onboard new customers more efficiently as part of an automated process. The insight…

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Callcredit announces record results

17th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

Callcredit Information Group has announced reported record results, at the same time launching a new brand identity.  The Group recorded an 18% increase in gross revenue to £201 million (2015: £170 million). Over the same period, group operating profits outpaced revenues, growing by over 20%. The results confirm Callcredit has very much come of age…

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Consumers negatively impacted by financial mistakes

14th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

More than 4 in 10 UK consumers say that they are still negatively impacted by financial mistakes they made in the past, according to research from Aviva. A greater number still say they wish they had managed their finances differently (64%) while 63% wish they had learnt more about financial matters when they were younger.…

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One in four people applying to borrow half their annual income

13th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

MoneySuperMarket analysed three million loan enquiries made on its Smart Search tool from January 2015 – March 2017 to find that more than one in four (28 per cent) Brits want to borrow an amount equal to at least half of their annual income. Worryingly, almost 10 per cent of personal loan enquiries are from people hoping…

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Aldermore appoints Chief Credit Officer

13th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

Aldermore has announced the appointment of John Wood to the newly created role of Chief Credit Officer. Wood joins Aldermore from Royal Bank of Scotland where he has worked for the last 27 years in a variety of portfolio management and risk roles. More recently he held responsibility for the embedding of a credit risk management…

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StepChange welcomes Lloyds new approach to overdraft fees

12th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

Lloyds Banking Group has announced a simplification of overdrafts for its personal current account customers. According to Lloyds statement, the new approach will be simple, clear and will give customers more control of their overdraft borrowing. “We understand that, across the banking sector, overdrafts can be complex and confusing for customers. Lloyds Banking Group has…

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Respect ‘spirit’ of financial rules Bank of England tells Lenders

11th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

British financial firms need to respect the spirit, and not just the letter, of rules designed to prevent another financial crisis, one of the Bank Of England’s (BoE) deputy governors said on Monday. Sam Woods, who is in charge of the BoE’s day-to-day regulation of banks and insurers, said “fixed rules could never keep up…

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MortgageGym announces GoCompare investment

11th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

Robo adviser MortgageGym.com has announced an investment agreement with financial services comparison website GoCompare. MortgageGym, in partnership with GoCompare and Experian, will provide consumers with access to a first-of-its-kind digital mortgage marketplace providing an end-to-end online solution that promises to transform the UK’s out-of-date mortgage application process. The company’s website will be the only online service that…

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Capita Asset Services to be acquired by Link Group

10th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

Capita has announced the sale of the Capita Asset Services businesses (CAS) to Link Administration Holdings (Link Group) for a cash free, debt free consideration of £888 million. Capita Asset Services offers a range of services including mortgage and loan servicing.  Capita has previously entered the UK mortgage servicing Crown Mortgage Management and Vertex Mortgage…

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Consumer car finance new business volumes remain stable

7th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

New figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that new business in the point of sale (POS) consumer new car finance market fell 1% by value and 13% by volume in May, compared with the same month in 2016. This is in line with the fall in private new car sales…

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Growth continues in second charge mortgage lending

7th July 2017 Consumer Collections |

The Finance and Leasing Association’s latest figures see continued growth in second charge mortgage lending during May 2017. Commenting on new business figures for the second charge mortgage market, Fiona Hoyle, Head of Consumer and Mortgage Finance at the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA), said “Second charge mortgage new business has ebbed and flowed over…

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