The Financial Ombudsman (FOS) has published in September 2018 two Decisions involving payday loans over six years old: Mr H has complained about fifty-four payday loans Lender C lent to him between March 2010 and September 2014. Mrs W’s complaint is about nine short-term loans from Lender D between November 2009 and July 2012. In both cases FOS has decided that its rules do allow it to … [Read more...]
IP regulation – Insolvency Service find major problems
The Review of the monitoring and regulation of insolvency practitioners that was published by the Insolvency Service last week found evidence of many of the problems in Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVAs) that I and other free-sector debt advisers have been talking about for several years. Although it is often not specific about what has to be done, the report is clear that change has to … [Read more...]
Debt free – what do you do now?
All your unsecured debt gone? Good news! Some online forums call this “your happy dance” and you are certainly entitled to have a twirl around and pop into your local coffee shop for that coffee and cake you have been avoiding for so long. Still no spare money though? For some people, getting rid of your debt doesn't dramatically change your life or your options. If you have had a Debt … [Read more...]
Lessons to be learned from Wonga – 6 policy challenges
It's now a few weeks since Wonga went into administration. This seems like a good point to ask some difficult questions about the lessons from Wonga and what should be done to reduce consumer harm in future. Much of the media coverage has gone as follows: Wonga was the worst - then the FCA fined them and made them write off debts in 2014 and introduced good payday loan regulation in 2015. … [Read more...]
Why affordability refunds are easier WITHOUT a claims company
Does using a claims company make it easier to get a payday loan refund? Is this worth paying their expensive fees for? The answer turns out to be using a claims company may be slower, give you poorer advice and may get a lower refund than making a complaint yourself. And they are certainly very expensive! "But I don't know if I have got a good complaint" Many of their websites say things … [Read more...]
Adding Liability Orders to credit records – a bad idea!
County Court Judgments (CCJs) are added to people's credit records, so why shouldn't the same be done for Liability Orders (LOs) for council tax arrears? This is a really bad idea, involving major problems and costs for local authorities and magistrates courts. These would massively outweigh the potential benefits. Magistrates Court Liability Order processes are not comparable to County Court … [Read more...]
Identity theft – what you need to do
This article grew out of a reader's question. Mrs J, asked: Since February my husband has started to receive letters from WageDay Advance, Satsuma and QuickQuid saying that he has loans with them that need repaying. He doesn’t have any loans. We have sent Prove It letters to all three. We have now had letters saying that WageDay Advance and QuickQuid have passed the account to debt … [Read more...]
“When will my credit score improve after settling my IVA?”
A reader who has settled his Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) early asked: My IVA is still showing on my credit history. The start date was January 2018. It was settled early after 3 years in 2021. I have been removed from the Insolvency Register. I have now been told that I have to wait for another 18 months until 2024 before the IVA will be removed. Is that right? I am sure you have … [Read more...]
Mortgage repossession and your credit record
A reader, Mr D, asked: I had a mortgage shortfall from 2006 after my house was repossessed by Natwest. As a mortgage shortfall stays on file for 12 years, I decided to make a Full and Final settlement offer in January this year which they accepted and which has now been paid. Now with both Equifax and Experian, the account has disappeared, it doesn't appear in my open or closed accounts. … [Read more...]
Introducing a cap on the cost of Rent To Own lenders such as Brighthouse
The FCA's Consultation on High Cost Credit 18/12 is clear about the harm caused by Brighthouse and other rent-to-own (RTO) lenders: Our findings make clear that the costs of RTO are high, sometimes exceptionally so. RTO users are paying an average premium of 3 or 4 times the typical retail price of goods. At the extreme, this can be nearly 5 or 6 times ... We think it is highly likely that harm … [Read more...]
Vanquis ROP – over limit charges not included in the refunds
I have asked Vanquis how they are calculating the FCA-ordered refund of the interest that people have paid because of their ROP purchases. One thing that Vanquis have explained is that they are not including a refund of any additional over the limit charges. This won't affect everyone getting a refund but it will be important for some people. Why aren't Vanquis refunding these? Vanquis … [Read more...]
Vanquis ROP refunds – they look too low – what is happening?
People are starting to get refunds from Vanquis for the extra interest they paid if they had the Repayment Option Plan (ROP). That's the good news. But the refunds are being paid very slowly. In June, Vanquis gave up its three-month target and said it hoped to refund people with open accounts by the end of the summer. UPDATE That didn't go well. In October people were then being told … [Read more...]
Graduating? An end of uni financial checklist
So you have graduated - you may be excited or apprehensive about your future. Sad because you will miss your uni friends or know it's time to move on. Or harassed and hungover as you try to get things packed up to leave. But whatever you choose to do next – a job, an intern position, go travelling, or more studying - there’s some financial admin you should deal with now, to stop big problems … [Read more...]
FCA high cost credit review – great headlines, not so much action
The FCA published two High Cost Credit Review consultation papers published yesterday: rent-to-own, home-collected credit, catalogue credit and store cards, and alternatives to high-cost credit; overdrafts. Although these got some great headlines - the word crackdown appeared frequently - I think it is fair to say that most debt policy campaigners have been disappointed by the proposals … [Read more...]
Max FOBT stake to be £2 and other good news about gambling
Today's announcement that the Government is restricting the maximum stake on FOBTs to £2 is brilliant news. At the same time, the government has announced a range of other measures, some to come in now and some that may be introduced in the future. And yesterday Monzo talked about what is going to be doing to help its customers self-exclude from gambling. Restricting FOBT stakes to … [Read more...]
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