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You are here: Home / Blog

FCA needs to take action on logbook loans urgently

Yesterday the government announced that it was dropping the proposed new logbook loan legislation. This is a very disappointing move, the bill would have had all-party support. I agree with these comments on Twitter: Strange one - never spoken to anyone who didn't think it was a good idea and the current legislation causes huge problems for some people. Joe Lane. Pretty odd decision. These … [Read more...]

May 15, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: High cost credit news/policy

Getting a clean start after gambling debts

A reader, let's call him Mr C, asked: I have been in bad mental health and have in periods of illness suffered big losses due to online gambling. I used to earn £32,000, I now only work part-time, getting c £700 a month, and have moved back to my parents. I have debts of £27,000 with £1,000 a month repayments. Some debts are very new eg a £8,000 loan three months ago.  I am very unlikely to … [Read more...]

May 4, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Full & Final settlements, gambling

SMI watch – 24 April – slow progress & statistics problems

On 24 April the DWP published the latest statistics on the switch from paying Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) as a benefit to giving it as a secured loan giving numbers as at 18 April: how many people getting SMI have been sent letters and successfully contacted by phone; what the people who have been successfully contacted are choosing to do - take the loan, decline the loan or are … [Read more...]

May 1, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: SMI

SMI – what happens if you haven’t agreed to take the loan?

Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) used to be paid as a benefit to people who weren't working - this ended on 5 April 2018. From 6 April someone newly applying can only get help with their mortgage costs through a secured loan instead. This is sometimes referred to as Loan for Mortgage Interest (LMI), but the old name SMI is also used. If you have been getting SMI before April, there are now … [Read more...]

April 5, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: SMI

SMI watch – 25 March – no real progress in last week

On 23 March the DWP published the statistics as at 21 March on the switch from paying Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) as a benefit to giving it as a secured loan showing: how many people getting SMI have been contacted by letter and phone ; what the people who have been successfully contacted are choosing to do - take the loan, decline the loan or are currently undecided. UPDATE: … [Read more...]

March 25, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: SMI

DWP minister says SMI loan ‘can be backdated’

Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) is changing on 6 April 2018 from being paid as a welfare benefit to being given as a secured loan. Kit Malthouse, a DWP Minister, told Radio 4's Moneybox on 17 March that he was "relatively confident we will be in a good position when it [6 April] comes." He stated that people who did not apply for the new loan by then will be able to have it … [Read more...]

March 19, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: General news & policy, SMI

DWP chaos? Only 10,000 have agreed to new SMI loan

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)'s Economic and Fiscal Outlook paper, published today with the Chancellor's Spring Statement, has this statement: DWP has told us that all current claimants have been contacted about the intention to convert their [Support for Mortgage Interest] award into a loan and of those that have responded, over half have indicated they are not interested while less … [Read more...]

March 13, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: General news & policy, SMI

MoJ consultation on default CCJs

I have responded to the Ministry of Justice's consultation on Default County Court Judgements (CCJs). This consultation was started in December 2017, because of: concern about the potential adverse impact of a County Court judgment on individuals who, unaware that a judgment had been made against them, found months or years later that their credit rating had been damaged. This article expands on … [Read more...]

February 22, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: CCJ, General news & policy

LOQBOX – how saving can improve your credit score

LOQBOX is a clever product that can help improve your credit score as you save regular amounts of money. And there are no fees at all. Which sounds good, doesn't it! I'm tired of suggesting that people with poor credit scores should get a "bad credit card", use it each month and repay it in full each month. That works work well if you can stick to the plan... but one 24 year old I was talking … [Read more...]

February 9, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Credit ratings

2017 Insolvency Statistics – the real story

On 26 January 2018 the Insolvency Service published two sets of statistics: Individual Voluntary Arrangements: Outcome Status 1990 – 2016 Insolvency Statistics: October to December 2017 Predictably the news stories about this lead on the statistic that personal insolvency went up: The number of people who became insolvent jumped by 9.4% in 2017 - the second year running that … [Read more...]

January 31, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Insolvency news & policy

MoJ consulting on default CCJs… but what about defaults?

The Ministry of Justice is consulting on the current processes in which someone has a judgment made against them without their knowledge. Finding a CCJ you knew nothing about on your credit record is a very unfair situation. People may only find out about a CCJ at an old address when their mortgage or other credit application is declined, or they fail a tenancy check. Here are some of the … [Read more...]

January 9, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: CCJ, Defaults, General news & policy

Refunds from Payday UK/Express & the Money Shop (old article)

UPDATE On July 15, it was reported that the Money Shop is to close. This has been confirmed on July 17, when the Money Shop website was updated with details. See Money Shop to close – two million customers will be informed for details of how this will affect existing complaints. That is the best place for all discussion from now on and I am closing comments on this page. If you had … [Read more...]

January 4, 2018 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: ICL & the Money Shop, Payday loans

Knightsbridge IVAs – must you agree to Creditfix’s variation?

15,000 people are being asked by Creditfix to agree to a variation that will increase the fees Creditfix gets from 15% to 23%. These are the Knightsbridge customers whose IVAs have recently been sold to Creditfix, If you have had one of these emails, do you have to agree? What are the pros and cons? IVA fees do matter Creditfix has said in the email about the proposed variation: The … [Read more...]

December 21, 2017 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Insolvency news & policy

Open Banking has started – should you care?

Open Banking – never heard of it? Or seen the headlines but your eyes glazed over?  It started on 13th January 2018. Over the following months and years, it’s going to change banking and payments in Britain forever. It is going to take a while - months or even years - before we know the full implications but find out what it might affect so you know what to look for. It may be brilliant, it … [Read more...]

December 19, 2017 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: General news & policy

Lending Stream – poor and slow complaints handling

Lending Stream, a mid-sized payday lender in Britain, is noticeably bad at handling payday loan affordability complaints. This article looks at what often happens in a Lending Stream affordability complaint so you are prepared. By taking your complaint to the Ombudsman you may get a much better award. In the first half of 2018, the Financial Ombudsman was agreeing with the customer in more than … [Read more...]

December 14, 2017 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: High cost credit news/policy, Payday loans

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