Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
A report from the House of Commons Treasury select committee has criticised the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) for planning to hand off responsibility for recompensing individuals targeted by scams to payments operator Pay.UK. The select committees says fraud is the most common crime in England and Wales, and one of the most reported in Scotland.…
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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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Consumer card spending grew by 10.6% in 2022, according to data from Barclaycard, with the amount spent on debit and credit cards climbing year-on-year as people returned to shopping in-store, eating and drinking out, and booking holidays. Spending on essential items grew by 6.3% – thanks to a 28.3% rise in fuel outlay that was…
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Two-thirds of consumers are planning to cut their discretionary spending in 2023, according to KPMG, with a poll showing that just 4% will be able to increase their non-essential spending levels in the coming year. The survey shows that one in ten respondents have no savings, while 43% of those who do have savings are…
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A new non-profit company has been launched to protect cash in the UK communities. The company named Cash Access UK is made up of nine of the largest high street banks. The incorporation of the company, which has been supported by UK Finance from the beginning, is a major milestone in delivering the industry’s commitment…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is warning festive shoppers of the risk of loan fee scams as fraudsters pile on the pressure at Christmas The FCA says that loan fee fraud this Christmas, with cases already up by a fifth on last year The research shows with the rising cost of living impacting consumers’ finances,…
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The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has outlined the technical process that banks and building societies will have to follow as part of its new reporting requirement for authorised push payment (APP) scams. APP scams are a major problem in the UK. In the first half of this year, there were over 95,000 incidents of APP scams, with…
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Barclays has been fined £8.4m by the Payments Systems Regulator (PSR), with the bank failing to be transparent with retailers about the fees they were charged to use its card services. The PSR has taken action as it found that the bank did not provide retailers with transaction information required under the IFR. This meant retailers…
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Latest figures from Nationwide show Black Friday purchases were up 10 per cebr compared with last year as Britons made the most of lower prices amid the cost of living crisis. The rate of spending has risen more than a third since pre-pandemic times, data show. Over the course of Black Friday Nationwide Building Society…
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Consumer spending rose 3.5% in October but the hospitality and leisure industries continue to struggle as Britons cut back ahead of Christmas, according to latest data from Barclaycard. As petrol and diesel prices started to creep up again, fuel spend rose 17.7 per cent year-on-year, 6.6 percentage points higher than last month’s uplift (11.1 per…
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A new study from Juniper Research has found that the total number of unique contactless mobile payment users will reach 1 billion globally by 2024; rising from 782 million in 2022, representing a growth of 60%. The report identified increased investment in contactless acceptance infrastructure, especially across emerging regions, as key to driving growth, through which over…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a review into big tech’s move into payments, deposit taking, consumer credit and insurance. While the FCA acknowledged that the involvement companies such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Meta could bring innovation and benefits to consumers by increased efficiency and delivering healthy competition, it said they could pose…
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UK Finance has shared its latest credit and debit card data which has highlighted an increase in credit card usage in July when compared to 2021. The data showed that there were 343.8 million credit card transactions in July, 9.8 per cent more than in July 2021. The total spend of £18.8 billion was 17.1…
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