Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Specialist equity release and lifetime mortgage brokers, KIS Finance says that it has seen enquiries for equity release increase by 110% when comparing the first half of 2019 to the first half of 2021. The company’s analysis indicated that the number of enquiries for equity release and lifetime mortgages was steady throughout 2019, then increased quickly during…
Read moreAs part of efforts to tackle the loyalty penalty, insurers in the UK (from 1st October) will be required to offer better value for money policies to existing customers. However, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says too many firms were failing to meet existing regulatory standards let alone the tougher rules coming in. A new…
Read more
While the UK economy continues its gradual encouraging pandemic recovery, signs are growing that the coming winter will be deeply financially difficult for many UK households, according to the August 2021 Money Statistics, produced by The Money Charity. Along with warmer weather and the ending of lockdown restrictions, the start of the summer period brought…
Read more
Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for August 2021 Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1,742.7 billion at the end of June 2021. The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £62,705 and per adult was £32,950, around 109.7% of average earnings. Net mortgage lending rose by…
Read moreSouth East Water has announced that it has launched a data-sharing partnership with a Kent council to identify low-income customers and automatically transfer them to its social tariff. The project involves Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) sharing data with South East Water to identify householders on low income who are eligible for a social tariff. This…
Read more
Higher prices for food, petrol and other everyday goods are leaving households struggling to meet these rising costs according to the latest Household Financial Confidence Tracker from comparethemarket.com. The research says that as coronavirus restrictions lift, the vaccine roll-out continues and the economy recovers, resulting inflationary pressures are leaving many families with children worried about affording day…
Read more
The Government is been warned about the impact of benefit cuts and their knock-on impact on renters. Bodies such as Nationwide, the Mortgage Works, Crisis, the Big Issue, the NRLA and StepChange, have urged the Government to reverse the decision to freeze local housing allowance and cut the temporary £20-a-week rise to universal credit. The…
Read more
The TUC is calling on the government to establish a permanent short-time working scheme as ‘a post-pandemic legacy’ to help protect working people through periods of future economic change. The trad reunion says the furlough scheme, while far from perfect, is one of the major successes of government policy during the pandemic, protecting millions of…
Read more
New Freedom of Information (FOI) data from the FCA gathered by wealth manager, Quilter has revealed a sharp increase in the number of mortgage sales with a term of 35+ years at the beginning of 2021. In March of this year, 25,112 mortgages were sold with a term of 35+ years, a 70% increase compared…
Read more
Latest UK Finance figures show that mortgage arrears remained at record lows in the second quarter of 2021, with 1,370 fewer mortgages in arrears at the end of June compared to the end of March. The number of mortgages in early arrears is below the level seen prior to the pandemic. Total mortgage arrears remain…
Read more
New research from Yolt, has revealed that over one in six (16%) UK adults never review some of their key household expenses. The research indicates that the 8.6 million in the UK who are ‘bill blind’ could be missing out on the most competitive deals available. This follows Ofgem’s recent announcement that the energy price cap…
Read more
New research by LifeSearch has found that 14% of consumers have repaid debts in the last six months, rising to 20% of Generation Y (aged 25-39); an average of £319 was repaid per month, totalling £2.4 billion nationwide, and rising to £469 pm among the over 55s. A further 7% have overpaid on their mortgage,…
Read more
The number of borrowers releasing equity from their homes has neared pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of this year, according to the latest figures from the Equity Release Council (ERC). There were 20,352 new and returning customers in the market between April and June, a rise from 16,527 in Q1 2021 and 13,617 in…
Read more