Average debt has dropped by 32% over the past year

28th April 2021 Arrears and Recoveries | #featured

New research by Experian has revealed that the average debt in the UK has dropped by 32% (nearly one third) over the past year of living with the enforced Covid-19 lockdowns. The average credit balance across all accounts, excluding mortgages, is now £7,851 – when it was £11,615 at the start of March 2020 and…

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Retired households disposable incomes fell by 12% last year

31st March 2021 Credit Cards | #featured

New research by Key has indicated that retired households saw their average disposable incomes fall by 12% last year. The analysis shows average disposable incomes for retired people fell in the financial year ending 2020 from the previous year by nearly 12% with much of the cut coming from lower private pension income and investment…

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Energy company pays £1.5m redress after overcharging customers

16th December 2019 Consumer Collections | #featured

iSupply Energy is to pay out £1.5 million in redress after the supplier overcharged around 4,400 of its customers on default tariffs and failed to alert the regulator (Ofgem) and put things right quickly. The price cap for 11 million customers on default tariffs came into force on 1st January 2019 with all energy suppliers…

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FEATURE: Is technology helping or hindering the customer experience?

16th July 2019 Consumer Collections | #featured

In recent years, the customer retail journey has been through a period of significant change across several industries – largely due to the internet and related technologies. In today’s connected society, purchase decisions can be made from all manner of devices and locations. Often a strong wi-fi signal and a spare five minutes can be…

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Late payments are a growing concern for businesses

11th July 2019 Drafts | #featured

Late payments are a growing concern for businesses according to the latest Lloyds Bank Business Barometer. The survey says a third (33% of businesses who were paid late in the last year did not chase outstanding payments,  Fear of damaging valuable customer relationships was the biggest rationale by some margin, cited by two thirds (62%)…

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FEATURE: AI tools legal firms need to have on their radar

Having already made significant progress across industries like finance and healthcare, I believe artificial intelligence (AI) is naturally placed to radically transform the legal sector. Indeed, the pace of technological change in the last decade means that businesses are constantly exploring new AI-driven solutions to help them gain a competitive advantage and survive in the…

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Consumer credit continued to slow in May

2nd July 2019 UK Economy | #featured

The Bank of England has revealed that annual growth in consumer credit continued to slow, falling to 5.6% in May, in its monthly Money and Credit update. The monthly flow of consumer credit in May was broadly in line with the average since July 2018, at £0.8 billion. The Bank of England gross lending stats…

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FEATURE: Why customer experiences matter for collections communications

Traditional, call centre-focused debt collection practices are becoming a thing of the past, as more and more debt collection agencies (DCA’s) turn to multi-channel communication strategies to improve customer experience and increase engagement.  While customer engagement and experience are most commonly associated with retail businesses, within the credit, collections and insolvency sector, there is a…

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Decrees against Scottish businesses drop to record low

In the first three months of 2019, the number of decrees against Scottish businesses dropped by 25 percent, compared to the same period of 2018, according to figures released by the Registry Trust. The total of 561 was the lowest of any quarter on record. The total value of decrees against businesses in the first…

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FEATURE: What Next for Motor Finance?

20th March 2019 Motor Finance | #featured

A year after they published their interim findings in March 2018, we now finally know the outcome of FCA’s review of the motor finance market. Whilst the focus of FCA’s attentions was to an extent telegraphed in their interim report, the final report still makes quite compulsive reading and begs the question – what happens…

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Homeowners paying off mortgages into their 70s ‘new normal’

19th March 2019 Mortgages and Rent | #featured

Homeowners paying off mortgages into their 70s is expected to become the “new normal” as more than half of loans can now be extended over 40 years. New data compiled by Moneyfacts shows 51% of mortgage deals available on the market are available over a maximum repayment period of 40 years, up from 36% in…

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New Commercial Credit & Collections conference launches

14th February 2019 Drafts | #featured

A new Commercial Credit & Collection conference has been launched by Credit Connect in partnership with CVR Global and Aon. The event and future additions will tackle issues across the full life-cycle of business credit and collections. Taking place on Friday 5th April at the Leadenhall “Cheesegrater” building, the first conference will focus on the…

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FEATURE: Debt Sale and data insight

20th November 2018 Consumer Collections | #featured

2018 has probably been the busiest year for consumer asset sale in the UK since 2008. Speak to any major debt purchaser and they will advise you of the increase in assessing portfolios, pricing calculations and on-boarding customers. Many creditors have used asset sale as part of their process for a number of years. However,…

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