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 - September 2020 - now Credit Ladder are proposing to charge you £60 a year to report to both Experian and Equifax. I suggest you don't bother! As a means of paying to try to improve your credit score this seems unnecessary, reporting to two 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 … [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...]
Covid-19 – you can have up to 6 months of mortgage breaks
UPDATE In 2023 with rising mortgage rates, see Worried about the cost of your mortgage? Find out the help your lender can offer. In 2020, all mortgage lenders will provide a three-month mortgage payment holiday for borrowers whose household finances are affected by coronavirus. By May 2020, 1.8 million people had taken a mortgage payment holiday. If you have already had … [Read more...]
Payday lender Sunny heading for administration
UPDATE - Sunny went into administration on 29 June. See 500,000 Sunny customers owed refunds will get little or nothing for the latest news about what customers will get. And see Kerrigan v Elevate Credit – an “unfair relationship” for my thoughts on the court case Sunny lost, badly. Elevate Credit International Limited, which trades as Sunny, has filed a Notice of Intent to appoint … [Read more...]
How Pardners work – friends save & borrow in an informal club
Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) are arrangements that allow friends to save together and withdraw lump sums from the scheme. ROSCAs are unregulated, relying on trust. The Money Advice Service says "those who use [ROSCAs] say they encourage savings and allow people without bank accounts access to credit." They have different names around the world, including tanda in South … [Read more...]
Have a cheap holiday at home!
Having a cheap holiday at home may not sound a lot of fun. If you are trying to blitz down your debts (is that one of your New Year resolutions?) it can be a huge gain. If your credit card is maxed out you may not have an option - but you can make a deliberate decision about what you do instead. By "at home" here, I mean in your own home! Not what the newspapers have taking to calling a … [Read more...]
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