Government warns local communities at risk of losing access to banking

The Government has voiced concern that local communities are at risk of losing access to banking services without specialised hubs. Speaking as she inaugurated the UK’s 100th banking hub in Lancashire, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves said “Without these banking hubs, towns are going to be banking deserts.” The Government plans to establish 350 hubs by…

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PSR proposes cross border price cap to protect UK businesses

13th December 2024 Consumer Lending | #card fees

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has published its final report of its market review into cross border interchange fees. The report finds that the high level of fees is harming businesses. The report found that throughout 2021 and 2022, Mastercard and Visa raised their cross-border interchange fees fivefold from 0.2% to 1.15% for debit cards…

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Cash usage increases for the second consecutive year

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has published its latest BRC Payments Survey which shows a rise in the use of cash for the second year in a row to 19.9% of transactions in 2023 (from 18.8% in 2022). Debit cards remained far and away the most common method of payment, increasing to 62.0% of transactions…

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Households cut back on spending in November

4th December 2024 Consumer Lending | #consumer spending

Latest data from Barclays shows that households cut back on essential spending at the fastest pace in five years in November. The analysis shows that card spending fell by 0.5% year-on-year, marking the first decline since July. Essential spending fell by 3.1%, with this the sharpest monthly fall since 2019, this was due to a…

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Consumers spent £3.9bn on debit cards over Black Friday weekend

4th December 2024 Consumer Lending | #card spending

Data from Lloyds’ Bank’s 27 million customers has shown that consumers spent over £3.9 billion on debit cards over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, a remarkable rise of 20% compared to last year’s spending. Gabby Collins, Payments Director at Lloyds said “Wow! The level of spending was way ahead of what we expected to see,…

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12m set to use BNPL to fund Christmas

New research from credit reference agency Equifax has revealed that the number of consumers using Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) could have peaked, but average spending continues to grow and will be key for many this Christmas. Four in ten (38%) consumers now indicate they have made use of BNPL, down from almost half (48%)…

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Fraud victims shun new money methods

22nd November 2024 Consumer Lending | #fraud#payments

Research by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) reveals that 36% of fraud victims are now hesitant to adopt new money management methods with vulnerable groups are particularly affected. Almost one in five fraud victims said their experience left them feeling anxious or depressed, while half reported a diminished trust in others. A third of victims…

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Christmas online spending set to exceed last year’s sales by £1.1bn 

11th November 2024 Consumer Lending | #spending

Latest mortgage lending data from UK Finance has found that there were 93,630 homeowner mortgages in arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance in Q3 2024, 3% fewer than in the previous quarter (96,090), but 8% higher than the same quarter in 2023 (87,010). The data also showed that there were 32,860 homeowner mortgages…

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Card spending increased by 0.7% in October

5th November 2024 Credit Cards | #spending

Data from Barclays shows that spending on cards rose by 0.7% in October, marking a slowdown from the 1.1% rise recorded in September. Overall Retail spending grew 0.7% in October 2024, a slight fall compared to the year-on-year growth seen in September 2024 (1.1%). Nonetheless, this is a third consecutive month of growth for the sector as it…

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Anti-fraud confirmation of payee tool expanded to hundreds of more firms

1st November 2024 Consumer Lending | #payment fraud

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has announced that hundreds of additional financial firms will adopt the Confirmation of Payee (CoP) name-checking service, in the industry’s fight against fraud. The expanded rollout means that over 99% of all transactions made through Faster Payments and CHAPS are now safeguarded by this vital anti-fraud measure, offering consumers an…

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Over £571m stolen by fraudsters in the first half of 2024

21st October 2024 Consumer Lending | #fraud

UK Finance’s half-year fraud report has found that criminals stole £571.7 million through unauthorised and authorised fraud, a 1.5 per cent decrease compared to the first half of 2023. Banks prevented £710.9 million of unauthorised fraud through advanced security systems with 72 per cent of APP fraud started online and 16 per cent started through…

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New APP fraud measures begin

7th October 2024 Consumer Lending | #APP fraud

Today (7th October, 2024) marks the start of major new protections for victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams. APP fraud happens when someone is tricked into sending money to a fraudster via bank transfer, which can lead to devastating impacts on its victims and reduce consumer confidence when making payments. Payment firms are now…

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CRM code for APP fraud winds down

4th October 2024 Consumer Lending | #APP fraud

The Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code which puts in place requirements for signatory Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to detect, prevent and reimburse Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud will close on 7th October as new statutory rules on APP fraud reimbursement come into effect, the Lending Standards Board (LSB) has confirmed. Since its introduction in 2019,…

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