Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
There is a market failure in the provision of credit for financially vulnerable people who have to borrow to meet their essential costs, according to a major new report – ‘The high cost of credit’ – by StepChange Debt Charity. Over one million people in the UK are using high-cost credit to cover their everyday…
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UK Finance has released its latest UK Card Expenditure Statistics for May 2017. The statistics include: A third of card payments are now contactless, up to 33 per cent from 18 per cent in May 2016; A total of £4.5 billion was spent via contactless in May 2017, compared to £3.9 billion in April 2017; The…
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Mortgage sales for the UK decreased by £200 million in June, down 1.2% on the previous month, according to Equifax Touchstone analysis of the intermediary marketplace. Buy-to-let figures bucked the general trend, rising by 3.2% (£80 million) to £2.6 billion, while residential sales contracted by 2.0% (£280 million) to £13.9 billion. Overall, mortgage sales for…
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Masthaven Bank has made three new appointments. The bank has appointed John Smith as national account manager, first charge mortgages. Smith previously worked at Platform Home Loans and Aldermore and helped launch Bluestone into the specialist mortgage market. Wes Baker and David Owen have also joined the firm as business development managers. Baker has worked…
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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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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…
Read moreEquifax 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…
Read moreCallcredit 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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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.…
Read moreMoneySuperMarket 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 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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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…
Read moreBritish 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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