Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
New research from American Express has found that nearly a third (29%) of adults either plan to, or will consider using, AI assistants and tools when they shop this year, rising to nearly four in ten (37%) for younger consumers aged 18-34. American Express says that for younger consumers, AI is rapidly becoming woven into…
Read more
Age UK has warned that there is no room for complacency when it comes to reducing poverty among our growing older population and calls on the Government to do more to address it. Around one in six, equivalent to 1.9 million, pensioners already live in poverty and the Charity is worried that unless something changes,…
Read more
Total retail sales increased by 1.2% year on year in December, against a growth of 3.2% in December 2024. This was below the 12-month average growth of 2.3% according to analysis by the British Retail Consortium. Food sales increased by 3.1% year on year in December, against a growth of 1.7% in December 2024. This…
Read more
Debt advisory specialist, Azets, has announced it has appointed Vicky Fisher as Assistant Manager. Fisher has previously worked for Lloyds Bank for 22 years and will continue to sit on the board at Business in Focus, a social enterprise which helps Welsh start-ups, in a volunteer role as a non-executive director. Fisher will be working…
Read more
The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) has welcomed two new lender directors to its board for 2026, appointing Jon Wilcox (Lloyds Commercial Banking) and Nova Everidge (Metro Bank). The appointments strengthen the NACFB’s lender Patron representation at board level, building on the recent additions of Angela Norman (YBS Commercial) and Josh Levy (Ultimate…
Read more
New data from Hargreaves Lansdown has found that on average, self-employed households have £89 left at the end of the month, compared to £244 among employed households. The self-employed are also more vulnerable if things go wrong: 70% of employed households have enough redundancy cover to be resilient, whereas only 12% of those where the…
Read more
New research from Aegon has revealed that six in ten people (60%) in the UK feel positive about their finances for 2026, maintaining last year’s results which, in turn, were an improvement on the 2024 results. In total, 11% feel “extremely positive” and 49% “somewhat positive”, compared to 36% who feel negative overall. This year’s…
Read more
Confidence among small business owners has dropped to its lowest level since 2020, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The FSB’s quarterly small business index fell by 13 points, with a confidence score of minus 71. Taxation emerged as the primary concern for 64% of 1,200 respondents, marking a record high. The FSB…
Read more
New analysis from UK Hospitality has revealed that six hospitality venues could close every day in 2026, if the Government doesn’t introduce a hospitality-wide solution to avert significant business rates increases in April. The analysis shows the scale of potential closures and forecasts that 963 restaurants, 574 hotels and 540 pubs would be set to…
Read more
New data from Premium Credit has shown that 44% of insurance customers are using credit or are reliant on finance from insurers and premium finance companies. The research showed that nearly six out of ten (57%) consumers use some form of credit to pay for one or more policies they have.. Whilst 44 per cent of…
Read more
Over half (55%) of people are in debt following Christmas expenses having spent £635 (on average) across the festive break according to latest research by Confused.com. The date showed that nearly three in ten (29%) think it will take them over a month to financially recover from Christmas 2025. On average, people take a month…
Read more
Latest data from Hargreaves Lansdown has found that households with unsecured debts (like credit cards and loans) spend an average of £259 a month on them. Bank of England showed that the annual growth rate for all consumer credit was 8.1% and for credit cards it was 12.1% – the highest since January 2024. In…
Read more
A new report on the DWP, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is calling out the unacceptable waits some people face for their Personal Independent Payment (PIP) to be processed, which can cause them to get into debt and push them into poverty. The report cites examples of people waiting over a year for their PIP…
Read more