Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Lending Standards Board (LSB) has published a series of updates to the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code (the CRM Code) to further strengthen what is the only set of protections of its kind for tackling Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams. The three most significant updates to the Code will help improve customers’ understanding of how…
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New IFS research has found that a blanket minimum eligibility requirement (MER) for access to student loans would be a highly imperfect way of improving student outcomes. It would increase the already large socio-economic gaps in higher education and would disproportionally affect ethnic minority students. The government recently announced a consultation on changes to the…
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Research by consumer watchdog Which? has revealed that 4,685 bank branches have closed over the last seven years with a further 226 set to disappear by the end of year – accounting for almost half of the country’s network. According to the study, the elderly and those in rural areas who most relied on cash…
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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its recommendations for the future oversight and governance of Open Banking. The CMA’s recommendations will be taken into consideration in the design of a future entity to succeed the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE). The future entity would build on the significant progress made to date by…
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New research commissioned by the Post Office has found that seven in ten people are left feeling overwhelmed by the amount of jargon used around money and savings. Half admitted they did not understand personal loans, APR (Annual Percentage Rate), interest rates, tax codes, dividends, rebates or the stock market. Whilst just a fifth are…
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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has criticised Lloyds and Barclays for mistakes made when giving information to price comparison websites, potentially misleading customers and breaking open banking rules. The CMA outlined a number of instances where the two banks breached the 2017 Retail Banking Market Investigation Order in relation to open APIs. The CMA said both…
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UK Finance’s latest card spending data shows the average amount spent per contactless card transaction rose by almost 30 per cent following the contactless limit increase to £100 in October 2021. In September 2021, when the contactless limit was £45, the average spend per contactless payment was £11.86, this increased to £15.30 in December. The…
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Amigo Loans has been given a seal of approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for a customer compensation claims scheme, Shares in Amigo tumbled by 55% last May after the High Court stated that it was ‘not satisfied that the court should sanction the scheme’pushing back against Amigo’s original proposal to cap customer compensation claims.…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced the launch of a fee cap for claims management companies (CMCs). The change will mean new restrictions will apply to claims management companies to prevent them from charging excessive fees to consumers owed compensation from financial services firms. Under new Financial Conduct Authority rules in force from today,…
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Latest data from the National Fraud Hunter Prevention Service, analysed by Experian, found the detected fraud rate for cards rose by 42% between October and December 2021, when compared to the previous quarter, the highest rate since 2017. Typically, an increase in fraudulent activity is detected over the festive shopping period, but 2021 proved especially…
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Rules introduced in 2014 by the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) to restrict the amount mortgage applicants could borrow may be reversed following a review by the Bank of England (BoE). Since 2014, Banks have had a limit on the number of mortgages they can offer where someone is borrowing more than 4.5 times their salary.…
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The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has published its quarterly data in relation to financial products today – this covers the period October 2021 – December 2021. The data shows complaints about current accounts, credit cards, car/motorcycle insurance and personal loans continue to feature in the top five most complained about products. Packaged bank accounts was…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it has secured changes to potentially unfair and unclear terms in the contracts of buy now pay later (BNPL) providers Clearpay, Klarna, Laybuy and Openpay. The FCA says that it was concerned there was a potential risk of harm to consumers as a result of the way…
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