Blog · Debt Camel

Is gambling wrecking your finances?

A gambling habit often starts small, some fun with your mates or a bit of excitement when you are bored at home. But soon you may be spending more than you can afford. Then your cards and overdraft are maxed out. It is so tempting to hope to win back enough to clear the debts and pay your bills. You need money to do this, so you get a loan. But you lose more... Soon the only credit you can … [Read more...]

Barclaycard send letters saying they raised credit limits too high

UPDATE in April 2021, Barclaycard has made another set of cuts to customers' credit limits. In July 2020 Barclaycard sent out letters to some customers saying their credit limit may have been set too high. They say: We've recently reviewed the way we set some of our customers' credit limits and can see that the limit we gave you previously may have been higher than it should have been … [Read more...]

“Will partial settlement make it hard to get a mortgage?”

Ms F asked: "I have been in debt management for five years after my marriage breakdown. After an inheritance, I want to pay off my DMP as it will carry on for years. I could pay in full but my house needs some urgent work and my car is on its last legs. I asked about my credit score if I offer a partial settlement and was told this would show as partially settled on credit score file. Will I … [Read more...]

“Will a credit builder card improve my score?”

A reader asked: I’ve recently paid off my 2 defaulted credit cards and I have been paying into Loqbox for the past 4 months (£70). I got an email from Clearscore saying I can get a Capital One credit card. This is the first time in a long time that I have been offered a credit card because my credit has been so poor but it is slowly improving. Should I apply for this? If I do what is the best … [Read more...]

Mr Lender is reviewing its loans from 2014-20 for affordability

In October 2020, some customers who had payday loans from Mr Lender are getting emails about a review of their loans. Mr Lender is carrying out a review of its payday loans over the last 6 years. It says: Lending practices have evolved over the years. This means that on occasion, a review of previous loans is appropriate to ensure that customers were treated fairly and that we have fulfilled … [Read more...]

Sunny – some loans written off & the rest sold to a debt collector

The administrators say people may be allowed to submit claims in November 2020, if sufficient funds are available in the Administration for a distribution to be made to unsecured creditors. The administrators will also explain then what people who have already submitted claims, or who had claims agreed but not paid when the company went under, need to do. But that "if" clause is important. The … [Read more...]

Board room bust-up at Amigo

March 2020 On 4 March 2020 the founder and majority shareholder of Amigo, James Benamor, resigned from the board which he had only rejoined in December and published a blog saying that the company was: committing slow motion suicide. Benamor said the board needed to choose between challenging recent FOS decisions on affordability complaints in court by Judicial Review or accept that "almost all … [Read more...]

FCA to look into unregulated credit such as Klarna & Wagestream

On 16 September, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a review into unsecured credit market regulation. This will be chaired by Christopher Woolard, the outgoing interim Chief Executive, which suggests how seriously the FCA sees this subject. The FCA says: The Review will concentrate on how regulation can better support a healthy unsecured lending market. It will take into … [Read more...]

Credit Ladder – can renting boost your credit rating?

UPDATE: Now, Credit Ladder charges you £60 a year to report to Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. I suggest you don't bother! As a means of paying to try to improve your credit score, this seems unnecessary. Reporting to three is very little better than reporting to one. Do yourself a favour and pay that £5 a month off a debt instead. Or add it to your savings account if you don't have any … [Read more...]

Major changes for thousands of customers with Aperture & Vanguard IVAs

In Autumn 2020 two of the largest IVA firms have recently announced the latest in a long line of customer transfers within the industry: all Aperture's open IVAs have been sold to Jarvis Insolvency; and Vanguard's open IVAs will be administered by Ebenegate. UPDATE: In February 2021 Jarvis rebranded and it now calls itself Debt Movement. Sale of Aperture's IVAs to Jarvis On 5 … [Read more...]

Provident complaints rise – but are its offers too low?

The Financial Ombudsman (FOS)'s latest quarterly statistics, published on 25 August 2020, highlighted a rise in the number of complaints received about some types of high cost credit. In the period April-June 2020, new complaints about home credit rose by 77% to 1,166. UPDATE in the second half of 2020, FOS was sent over 10,000 new Provident complaints! Provident is the major lender in the home … [Read more...]

Lloyds & Halifax overdraft fees higher if your credit record is poor

In July 2020, Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland (BoS) increased their overdraft charges and a month later people are starting to see the full cost on their monthly statements. This is the fourth change to the banks' overdraft charges since 2017. The new fees are higher for customers with a bad credit rating. This is unfair in several ways. So what can you do if you can't afford these … [Read more...]

Kerrigan v Elevate Credit – an “unfair relationship”

The judgment in the Kerrigan & others v Elevate Credit International Ltd was published on 5 August 2020. Elevate Credit International was a large UK payday lender, trading as Sunny. Kerrigan and the other eleven claimants were Sunny customers who had made affordability complaints to Sunny through a claims company. The claims company brought the case and selected six claimants; Sunny … [Read more...]

Amigo won’t give details about how many complaints it has in July 2020

On 20 July 2020 Amigo published its results for the year ending 31 March 2020. The financial headlines: Amigo made a loss after tax for 2019-20 of £27.2m. For the previous year this had been a profit of £88.6m; no guidance on financial performance for 2020-21 was given because it is too early to assess the impact of Covid-19; it had cash in the bank of over £135m at 30 June … [Read more...]

Covid-19 – credit score protection, but will it be harder to get credit?

In March 2020 Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, the three big UK credit reference agencies, agreed that having a temporary "payment holiday" with a lender because of Coronavirus problems won't harm your credit score. The FCA, who regulates lenders in the UK, then set out detailed rules about payment breaks for most kinds of debt, including mortgages, unsecured loans, credit cards, catalogues, … [Read more...]