UPDATE March 2025 - final scheme payment announced Amigo has announced the last percentage payment will be 6.01%. Together with the first percentage payment, this takes the total up to 18.51%. The amount you will receive will be a bit less than half the previous percentage payment you received. (If you have received 2 payments, the one from Amigo Loans was an "in full" refund … [Read more...]
What should the default date be & when will it disappear?
A default hurts your credit score, but how long for? That depends on the default date recorded on your credit file. If a the default date is too late, it harms your credit score for longer than necessary. The Key Rule to remember is "A default drops off after 6 years". This always happens, regardless of whether: you have repaid it in full you made a partial settlement you are still … [Read more...]
Credit cards – the minimum payment trap
Do you only make the minimum payments on your credit cards? If money is tight, you may feel you can't afford more... But do you know that there is a simple alternative that will speed up debt repayments a lot, not harm your credit record and not cost you any more? Repaying a credit card with minimum payments How long does it actually take? Suppose you buy something that costs £2,500 on a … [Read more...]
Problem overdraft? How to ask your bank for a refund of interest
Have you had big overdraft problems for a long period? You can make an affordability complaint and ask for a refund of overdraft charges if: your overdraft limit was set too high at the start or increased to a level you are unable to clear; or your overdraft usage showed you were in long-term financial distress. For example, being in the overdraft all the time, or using an unauthorised … [Read more...]
Car finance commission – can you get a refund?
There are now two different types of car finance commission complaints, "discretionary commission" and "undisclosed commission". In January 2024, the FCA allowed car finance firms to "pause" their handling of discretionary commission complaints. Then in October, a major appeal court case covered a completely different reason for asking for a refund of car commission - it was not fully explained … [Read more...]
What to do if a creditor won’t freeze interest
What can you do if a creditor is still adding interest when they have been asked to stop? This can happen if you have a payment arrangement. It also sometimes happens, but much more rarely, in a Debt Management Plan (DMP). Most creditors do freeze interest if you have supplied a reasonable Income & Expenditure Statement. If you are in a DMP, your DMP firm will have sent the creditor … [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...]
How to get refunds from catalogues and credit cards
Have you had a catalogue, credit card or store card where your credit limit was too high? So high that the monthly repayments were hard to manage and you got into more debt? Many people were originally given an OK limit, but the lender kept increasing it too high. You may have a good complaint that the lender was irresponsible in allowing you to borrow so much that the debt was … [Read more...]
Morses administration – more delays to the tiny distributions
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. It is now expected that people who were promised refunds of hundreds or thousands of pounds in the … [Read more...]
Worried about starting a DMP? Answers to common questions.
A reader said she was scared about starting a Debt Management Plan (DMP). She was worried her creditors may not freeze interest and might take her to court. Another reader asked if he can get a new mortgage fix if he is in a DMP I thought it would be useful to look at the most common concerns people have about DMPs. Setting up a DMP Will I get lots of phone calls from creditors? You … [Read more...]
The best free ways to check your credit score
Keeping track of your credit record is smart, but how do you go about it? With over 18 different ways to check your credit record in the UK, it can get confusing. So, what are your options—and which are the best free ones? And is it ever worth paying for "extras"? Many people think they have a single credit score - WRONG! The three Credit Reference Agencies It is a myth that everyone has a … [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...]
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...]
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