Panorama on 17 June 2019 showed Easy Money, Tough Debt? It's on iPlayer for 11 months if you missed it. It covered a wide range of high cost borrowing, with stories from people who had problems with payday loans, with high-cost credit cards and catalogues, and guarantor loans, with a borrower and a guarantor being featured. Everyday stories of high cost borrowing For a debt adviser, these … [Read more...]
“What if I forgot to put a debt on my bankruptcy application?”
A reader asked: I am thinking of filing for bankruptcy. Some of my debts go back quite few years. I tried a DMP and an IVA that failed. I’m behind on my household Bills too. I’m single mum and find hard to cope with all this stress. I finally plucked the courage to do the form. I have at least 13 creditors, some of these details I took off my IVA creditors list but some have passed the debts … [Read more...]
“What happens to a DRO if I move in with a new partner?”
A reader asked: I’m a single parent and have had about 10k of debts in a debt management plan for several years. I’m on low income and it looks like it will never end plus I have got some further debts. Now I’m considering a Debt Relief Order (DRO). But I met someone and I’m thinking about starting to live together. I don’t want to tell him about my debts and really want to sort this out … [Read more...]
Going bankrupt in England and Wales – a checklist
Most people find going bankrupt is stressful. Although afterwards it is usually much easier than you have expected, at the time there seems to be so much to get right. Here is a checklist, covering everything you need to do before submit your bankruptcy application. The good news is that this is now all much simpler than it used to be. A few years ago you had to go to court with three copies … [Read more...]
Get a simple budget that works – don’t make excuses!
You need something that puts you in control of your spending. Your grandparents used to budget using a pencil and paper. But they didn't have contactless cards and mobile bills and overdrafts and credit cards and takeaways... Now many people find it harder to budget and feel they have lost control. For a budget to make your life easier, it has to be realistic and not time-consuming. This … [Read more...]
Credit cards – to close or not to close?
If you have a credit card or catalogue account with a zero balance, should you close it? You may be worried if this would help or harm your credit score. But that isn't the only thing to consider. And what impact will it have on a mortgage application - cr4edit scores aren't the only that matters to a mortgage lender. This decision is important to get right if you are trying to clear your … [Read more...]
Q1 2019 – IVA numbers – the upward trend continues
On 30 April the Insolvency Service published the personal insolvency statistics for the first quarter of 2019. Comparing this quarter to the last quarter of 2018: bankruptcy and DRO numbers were about the same; IVA numbers dropped from 22,943 in Q4 2018 to 20,325 in Q1 2019. The upward trend of IVAs continues It is a mistake to make too much of this fall in IVA numbers, because the … [Read more...]
A template letter to ask for a BrightHouse refund (old article)
This article was used to help people make affordability complaints to BrightHouse. Now (March 2020) BrightHouse is about to go into administration, this article is no longer relevant. You can still complain, but the process is much simpler and you can no longer go to the Financial Ombudsman. See BrightHouse administration – how does this affect customers? which says what you should do now, … [Read more...]
Guarantor loans – why guarantors & borrowers need extra protection
Guarantor loans are coming into the regulatory spotlight. The FCA wrote to CEOs in March 2019 saying it will be looking at affordability and whether potential guarantors have enough information to understand how likely it is that they may have to make the loan payments. In a speech, Jonathan Davis said: Recent work we have done in this area showed that many guarantors are making at least 1 … [Read more...]
2018 FOS statistics – most complaints about QuickQuid
New statistics for July-December 2018 from the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) show how payday loan complaints have jumped in the second half of 2018 and give details for how many complaints the larger lenders had. Almost all these cases are affordability complaints where a customer was given payday loans without proper affordability checks and is asking for a refund of interest paid. The … [Read more...]
Are you worried about a charging order?
Can your house really be at risk if you get into difficulties repaying something like a credit card bill? You might think the answer is "no", but there are some very rare situations where this can happen. It helps to know the facts, so you can make good decisions about how to deal with your debts. To be able to sell your house a creditor has to: start by getting a County Court Judgment … [Read more...]
Why is QuickQuid going to delete old customer data?
QuickQuid has told some customers that it plans to delete loan data over seven years old with effect from today, 15th April 2019. It says this is to comply with its legal obligations. QuickQuid has sent emails to the affected customers asking if they would like a copy of their data before it is deleted. It seems to me that this new policy is not in the customers' interest because it will … [Read more...]
Wonga – the adminstrators’ report – March 2019
The Wonga Administrators’ six month progress report to end February 2019 was emailed to creditors on 27 March 2019. The creditors include the so-called "redress creditors". These are the customers who complained to Wonga saying they were given unaffordable payday loans. Collecting outstanding loans When Wonga went into administration, the Gross Loan Book totalled £77 million. So far … [Read more...]
Which is better a DRO or an IVA? There is a very simple answer!
Everyone has heard of bankruptcy, but Debt Relief Orders (DROs) and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) are less well known. Here is a comparison of IVAs and DROs, so you can see would be better for you. DROs and IVAs were the two most common types of personal insolvency in England and Wales in 2023. Some choices between debt solutions are genuinely hard. When I wrote about comparing … [Read more...]
“Debt collector can’t prove it’s my debt but wants payment”
A reader, Ms J, asked: I sent a Prove It! letter to a debt collector as I have no recollection of debt they say I owe. They replied saying that they cannot “provide specific details to your dispute” and we have marked your account as unenforceable meaning we will not pursue legal action and have informed our client to remove any reporting on your credit file. However the above account remains … [Read more...]
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