My pick of last week's news is CAP report Stacked Against. Tweet of the week We are officially a year old! In the next couple of months we have details to share/announce as we get ready to #EndHighCostCredit through a new fund, Fair Credit mark, staff team focussed on policy and movement building and new collaborations to extend our impact. pic.twitter.com/v4fk862nk1 — End High Cost … [Read more...]
0% balance transfer deals have got shorter in March 2019
For two years the 0% balance transfers on offer have been getting slowly less good. March 2019 has now seen a big drop in the length of the table-topping deals: now the two longest 0% offers are both 29 months; just a month ago in February 2019 the longest was 32 months; a year ago there were 37 month deals on offer; back in May 2017, you could have got a 43 month deal. At the … [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 2019. Some choices between debt solutions are genuinely hard. When I wrote … [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...]
Debt news – March 17
My pick of last week's news is the FCA's review of the debt management sector. Every debt adviser should read it. Tweet of the week The nightmare of welfare cuts and debt. My last 48 hours has been spent helping a lone parent with mental health issues in terrible debt crisis. Council tax debt and visit from enforcement agent was straw that broke the camels back. Customer hasn’t opened … [Read more...]
You both have debts – but may need different debt solutions
You both have debts, you both know it's time to tackle them and you want to do this together. But if one of you has a lot more debt, or a much larger income, or you own different assets, you don't have to have the same debt solution. A good debt adviser will help you look at what option each of you needs to get the best result for your family going forward. This article looks at some of … [Read more...]
How to ask QuickQuid for a payday loan refund
QuickQuid (QQ) and its smaller brand Pounds To Pocket (P2P), which in February 2019 rebranded as On Stride, have been getting increasing numbers of affordability complaints from customers asking for refunds of interest. In 2018 QuickQuid became the most complained about banking and credit firm in Britain, according to Finanical Ombudsman statistics. Summary You may be able to get a refund if … [Read more...]
How many Wonga victims are there? 10k, 40k? More!
In February, Nicky Morgan, who chairs the Treasury Committee, said: It cannot be right that over 10,000 people who may have been mis-sold loans are just cast aside, especially as many will be vulnerable consumers. The Wonga administrators replied, saying: The total number of redress claims is currently more than four times the number you referred to in your press statement on 26 February and we … [Read more...]
The FCA’s High Cost Credit supervision priorities
The FCA has published its Portfolio Strategy Letter to firms providing high cost lending. This was sent on 6 March to firms that provide: guarantor loans (eg Amigo) payday loans high-cost unsecured subprime loans home-collected credit (eg Provident) logbook loans pawn-broking rent-to-own (eg Brighthouse). This letter doesn’t cover overdrafts, subprime credit cards or … [Read more...]
Debt news – March 10
My pick of last week's news is the rent-to-own price cap comes in from April. As Martin Lewis commented: The rent-to-own sector is perhaps the most visceral example of the poverty premium in the UK. The fact that the most vulnerable with the least pay four times as much for their electrical and white goods as everyone else is simply unjust, and it's rightfully about time that the FCA cracks down … [Read more...]
Guarantor loans – open to financial abuse #IWD2019
Guarantor loans are wide open to financial abuse, where the guarantor is pressured into agreeing to the loan, often without full knowledge of the borrower's situation. This can take many forms, but today, for International Women's Day 2019, here are some recent comments from women who were bullied into agreeing to be the guarantor for their partner or their ex-partner. I was bullied … [Read more...]
Debts keeping you awake? Find a good way forward
In the small hours of the morning, money worries about bills and debts can go round and round in your head: mad, complicated ideas about how to pay off some debts with other debts; worries about your partner (he doesn't know how bad it is!) and children (new shoes!); panics about what "they" (debt collectors, a judge in court, bailiffs etc) can do to you, etc. So you get up the next … [Read more...]
Were you sold a car on unaffordable finance?
The FCA has published its long-awaited review of car finance: Our work on motor finance – final findings. This work began back in April 2017. News reporting has seized on the FCA's findings that commission structures give dealers an incentive to charge higher interest rates. For example: Car buyers overcharged £1,000 by dealers for loans, says watchdog. But here I am interested in the FCA's … [Read more...]
Amigo loans – not a good way to try to improve your credit score
Have you heard that a guarantor loan is a good way to improve a bad credit score? That isn't good advice. There are big problems with guarantor loans and there are much better ways to improve a bad credit rating! If you already have a guarantor loan, or you are the guarantor for someone else's loan, see the bottom of this article where I look at what your options are. Many people want to … [Read more...]
Debt news – March 3
My pick of last week's news is the demise of another big payday lender: Wageday Advance. Tweet of the week We are outraged by this. Yet another client subject to wholly unnecessary reassessment for their #Disability #benefits . In '16 the tribunal awarded our v disabled client 65 points WITH recommendation never to be reassessed. Last month, she was reassessed + awarded ZERO points. … [Read more...]
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