On 13 November 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced: The FCA will consult on extending the time firms have to respond to consumer complaints about motor finance where a non-discretionary commission was involved, and for consumers to refer them to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This is a very rapid consultation for the FCA. It follows a recent Court of Appeal judgment in late … [Read more...]
Amigo’s Scheme – June – my summary of the current situation
UPDATES Mid August 2024 And the deadlines have slipped yet again. There are just under 4,000 people still waiting for a decision, or a revised decision after winning an appeal, or a recalculation. There are also now (21 August), about 8,000 people where Amigo has wrong or missing bank details: this includes £1.7m of redress to be paid "in full", and £2.4m of Initial … [Read more...]
HSBC pays compensation for not saying a debt was unenforceable
In 2023, Miss M asked HSBC to produce the Consumer Credit Act(CCA) agreements for her debts. If a creditor cannot produce the CCA agreement for a relevant debt, the debt is unenforceable in court and the consumer can stop paying it. The older a debt is, the less likely it is that the CCA agreement can be found. Miss M's debts were very old. Asking for the CCA agreement is a simple procedure … [Read more...]
Does a Cifas “Victim” marker harm your credit score?
I was asked: Someone pretending to be me has tried to set up some finance. It all got stopped, no money lost and no real harm done. My concern is that the finance company is proposing to record this impersonation on Cifas, but won't if I ask them not to. The letter makes it sound like informing Cifas is a good thing, but I've googled it and have found nothing but horror stories about never … [Read more...]
Morses administration – what is happening to loans & refunds
Morses Club went into administration in November 2023. Morses Club was the largest doorstep lender in the UK after Provident stopped lending in 2021. See Morses Club goes under for details about why it failed. In March 2024, the administrators have sold or written off all outstanding loans. This article looks at what has happened, what happens to customers' credit records, and whether … [Read more...]
Affordability refunds from large loans and car finance
The repayments on many loans and car finance are too high to be manageable so people get deeper into debt trying to repay them. When you applied, a lender should have checked a loan would be affordable for you - often they did not check properly and you should never have been given this loan. This article describes how to complain, with a template to use. Many people have won complaints … [Read more...]
Are people being told the truth about DMP fees and no-fee DMPs?
Misleading DMP advice Mrs B was advised to go into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) by an IVA firm. They referred her to a firm that charges fees for running a DMP. I suggested that she should talk to StepChange or another provider that doesn't charge any fees for a DMP. Mrs B went back and queried the advice with the IVA firm. This is the WhatsApp conversation: I explained to Mrs B that … [Read more...]
Lloyds and Halifax to charge up to 49.9% interest on overdrafts
The Lloyds Banking Group - Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland - are changing overdraft charges for customers from August. Some are increasing, some are reducing. The new 19.9% and 29.9% charges are lower than most major banks. But the new 49.9% charge will be the highest overdraft rate charged by a high street bank. The current charges This is the first change since 2020. Before that Lloyds … [Read more...]
Car finance discretionary commission claims – update May 2024
UPDATE - 13 November 2014 In late October, an Appeal Court judgment said commission should be refunded in a much broader range of cases, not just discretionary motor finance. The FCA is now proposing to extend the pause on discretionary commission complaints to cover fixed commissions as well. See Car commission refunds – can more people get refunds? where I cover this in detail UPDATE - 24 … [Read more...]
Barclaycard cuts minimum payments – this may cost you a lot
In April 2024, Barclaycard has told many customers that it will be setting lower minimum payments on their accounts from July. From a poll I ran on Instagram, Barclaycard has informed about 90% of cardholders. It looks as though this change is going to be across the board, affecting everyone. The messages are going out by email, letter or text. Look out for the communication if you haven't yet … [Read more...]
Had a letter from Intrum/Resolvecall about an old Lloyds debt?
Two readers have reported getting letters from Intrum/Resolvecall about an old Lloyds debt. They are asking if they have to pay these old debts: I had a credit card debt with Lloyds about 10 years ago. I was struggling to pay it at the time... NowI have had a letter from a company called Intrum saying my account will now be managed by a company called Resolvecall who are asking for over … [Read more...]
SafetyNet & Tappily loans are written off
The administrators of Indigo Michael Limited have announced that all current SafetyNet Credit and Tappliy balances are being written off. And that any affordability complaints have to be made within the next few weeks. My previous article SafetyNet Credit goes into administration gives details about why the lender failed. And also why, unusually, it was allowed to carry on lending to existing … [Read more...]
DROs – major improvements introduced in 2024 Spring Budget
In a Spring Budget that was short on surprises, the Chancellor pulled a large rabbit out of the hat for debt advisers and some of their clients - big changes to the rules for Debt Relief Orders (DROs). DROs are a form of insolvency for people who have little or no spare income to be able to make any payments to their debts and who only have low assets. Introduced 15 years ago, they were … [Read more...]
“When can I offer £1 to a debt?” – FAQs about token payments
A reader asked if he should offer a £1 a month token payment to his debts, wondering if his creditors would ever accept it. The simple answer is that you should make token payment offers: TO non priority debts WHEN it is all you can afford. BUT if you don't expect your situation will improve soon, you may have better debt options. In 2024 millions of people can't afford the normal debt … [Read more...]
The new DRO hubs – what happened in 2023
In January the Insolvency Service published data showing how the volumes of Debt Relief Orders (DROs) done by advice agencies changed in 2023, see Monthly IS statistics Jan-Dec 23, Table 3.2. In February 2023, the two new MaPS-funded DRO hubs began operating. These are run by Citizens Advice and Money Wellness (called Benesse Advice in the IS statistics, also known to debt advisers as Gregory … [Read more...]
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