Credit, collections & insolvency news
The Institute of Directors (IoD) is calling on the Government urgently to adjust its tax policies to take account of the extraordinary energy cost pressures businesses currently face. The IoD says this should include using tax incentives to support the business transition to a low carbon economy, with less dependency on expensive fossil fuels. Specifically,…
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The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) says that it expects the UK economy to plunge into recession before the end of 2022, with inflation spiking to 14% and lingering weakness in growth expected to continue into 2024. In the short term, the BCC is now forecasting a recession for the UK economy with three consecutive…
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On average, working households are only 19 days from the breadline, according to a report from Legal & General. The new research has shown that households have seen the amount of time they can fund basic expenses decrease by 21%, five days less than in April 2020. Households have average savings of £2,431 and debts…
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People who say they ‘live for today’ are less likely to have enough cash left over at the end of the month (42%) according to research from Hargreaves Lansdown Savings & Resilience Barometer, produced with Oxford Economics in July 2022. The research has found that they will be hit harder by the cost-of-living crisis too,…
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New Aegon research tracking adults’ relationship with their finances since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic has found that financial worries are already significantly worse since the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis than experienced during the pandemic. The latest research* shows nearly two thirds of adults (63%) said they are worried about their finances during…
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The value of overdrafts used by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has grown 18% from £8.3 billion in May 2021 to £9.8 billion in May 2022 as the financial stress in small businesses rises according to research by UHY Hacker Young. UHY Hacker Young says that the rise in overdraft use is concerning as overdrafts…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed its plans to bring in a new Consumer Duty, which it says will fundamentally improve how firms serve consumers and also will set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services, requiring firms to put their customers’ needs first. The Duty is made up of an…
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Latest statistics quarterly figures from the Insolvency Service for England & Wales have indicated that personal insolvencies numbers increased by 23.3% compared to May 2021’s figure of 8,496 and increased by 11.2% to 10,476 in May 2022 compared to 9,417 in April. There were 2,030 DROs and 566 bankruptcies. For individuals, 566 bankruptcies were registered, which was…
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Over a quarter (26%) of UK small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have seen the number of late payments they receive increase since the cost of living has gone up, according to new research from Barclays. The new findings indicate that rising prices have started to impact payments between businesses, as 16% of SMEs said that…
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Analysis of Bank of England data by Mazars shows UK households are currently paying £18.3 billion annually in interest payments on floating rate debt that are likely to be immediately impacted by an interest rate rise. Thi includes floating-rate mortgages, credit card debt and other unsecured personal lending. Consumers will be hit by further rises…
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The number of English households in ‘fuel stress’ will double from 2.5 to 5 million as a result of the price cap rising from today (Friday), with another 2.5 million households at risk in October if the price cap rises again to £2,500, according to new Resolution Foundation research. The research shows that low-income households…
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More than half (54 per cent) of young people, aged 18-34, think the current credit score system is fundamentally flawed according to new research from MyLifeKit. More than 44 per cent of all other respondents, aged 35 and older, also agreed that credit scores are flawed, contributing to an average of 46 per cent of…
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Latest figures from the Bank of England (BoE) has indicated that consumers borrowed a net £1.5 billion on credit cards in February, the highest monthly amount since records began in 1993. The figures showed that lending to consumers rose by the most in nearly five years in February, jumping 90% compared to January. Consumer credit…
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