In my summary of the Provident's proposed Scheme, published on 15 March, I said I would be looking at some aspects of it in more detail. The £50m the company is putting up to pay refunds is not nearly enough to pay everyone. The whole point of the Scheme for Provident is that it will cost it less than if it were to pay full refunds. This article looks at how much customers might hope … [Read more...]
Chief Ombudsman Caroline Wayman resigns
Caroline Wayman, the Chief Ombudsman and CEO at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has resigned, announcing on 10 March 2021 on LinkedIn that: After 22 years at the service and nearly 7 years as chief executive and chief ombudsman I am stepping down from the role. Her resignation comes the day after a highly critical article in the Daily Mail which pointed out: Fraud victims and cheated … [Read more...]
Correct credit records by “suppressing” them if the lender has disappeared
If you feel that your credit report is wrong, the normal first step is to ask the lender to put this right. But when the lender is in administration, the administrators may not respond to requests from you to correct your credit files. And if the lender has been liquidated, there is no-one for you to contact. Here the Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) should help if you ask them to. Incorrect … [Read more...]
Amigo & Provident complaints soar – new Ombudsman data
On 3 March 2021, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) published two sets of statistics. quarterly data for October-December 2020 summarises the types of complaints FOS has received. half-year data shows which firms had the most complaints in July-December 2020 and how often FOS upheld the customers' cases. Caroline Wayman, the FOS CEO says: "Excluding PPI, new complaints are up by … [Read more...]
Worried about starting a DMP? Answers to common questions.
A reader said she was scared about starting a Debt Management Plan (DMP). Her worries were that her husband's credit rating would be affected and that she would get lots of phone calls from creditors. A DMP is supposed to help with your debt problems, not increase them, so I thought it would be useful to look at the common concerns people have before they start DMPs. DMPs are good debt options … [Read more...]
Overdrafts – a hard type of debt to clear
Do you worry you will always be stuck in your overdraft? You aren't alone. Overdrafts can be the hardest sort of debt to pay off. Even authorised overdrafts aren't cheap, once you stop being a student. So what can you do that will work? Very hard to escape from The hamster on this wheel is enjoying going round and round and never getting anywhere. For many people, their overdraft feels … [Read more...]
How much will my credit score change if … ?
How much will my credit rating go up or down? That is a very common question. But it's often tricky to answer! This article has some guideline numbers from Experian that may help. These are only indications - your credit score may not go up or down by this much. They assume nothing else has changed on your record. They also apply to single issues. If you have two defaults already, getting … [Read more...]
Will my bankruptcy application be refused?
"Can I go bankrupt?" is a very common question. People worry that their bankruptcy application will be rejected because their debts aren't large enough. Or the Official Receiver will say they should repay the money they owe. Or that they don't meet the legal criteria. But less than 1% of bankruptcy applications are rejected by the Insolvency Service, so you need to stop worrying and find … [Read more...]
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) – should you take this loan?
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) helps people with the cost of their mortgage if they aren't working. It was paid as a benefit from 1948, but in 2018 this stopped. SMI is now only given as a loan that is secured on your house, see the gov.uk page on SMI. How much help does SMI give? If you lose your job, you can't claim SMI for 39 weeks. Many people don't have enough redundancy pay, … [Read more...]
Amigo’s Scheme – key points to think about
On 25 January 2021 Amigo announced that it is proceeding with the next stage of its proposed Scheme of Arrangement and published the formal Practice Statement Letter (PSL) that describes the Scheme for the customers affected. I have summarised the proposal in Amigo’s Scheme - timetable for approval & how it may work. This article looks at seven points of concern about the Scheme. A … [Read more...]
Can you get refunds from catalogues, credit cards & overdrafts?
Have you had a catalogue, credit card or overdraft where you were given a high credit limit? So high that the monthly repayments were hard to manage so you got into more debt? Many people were originally given sensible limits, but the lender kept increasing them. You may have a good complaint that the lender was irresponsible in allowing you to borrow so much that the debt was … [Read more...]
Amigo – many customers may do better in Administration than a Scheme!
When Amigo announced it was proposing a Scheme of Arrangement in December, it said: Amigo continues to explore alternative options but it is likely the alternative options would result in those with Redress Claims receiving considerably lower amounts (if any at all) than they would under the Scheme. But that isn't correct for one large group of borrowers who would be significantly better off if … [Read more...]
No calls or letters about a debt for years?
If its been several years since you stopped paying a debt and you haven't had any phone calls or letters for a long while, you may be hoping your debt has "got lost". Perhaps the debt collector has forgotten about it... Mr H has a typical situation: I stopped paying a loan at the start of 2016 when I lost my job. I have a Default on my credit file for June 2016. The bank sold it to a debt … [Read more...]
Is Amigo allowed to delay paying refunds? Does it have a DISP waiver?
When Amigo announced in December 2020 that it was seeking a Scheme of Arrangement to cap the amount it has to pay to customers owed refunds for unaffordable lending, it said: To ensure equal treatment of customers with Redress Claims, Amigo will stop the ongoing payment of all Redress Claims, except for those cases where the Redress Claims result from: (i) reviewed and upheld complaints where a … [Read more...]
Emigrated and want to go bankrupt in England?
A reader asked: We are moving to Queensland, Australia very soon to live with family. We are both pensioners with no savings or assets and my husband has very large debts from a business failure a couple of years ago. We are hoping that once we get there we could get the money together for his bankruptcy fees. Will he be able to use the online application and file for bankruptcy? Before 2016, if … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
- 32
- Next Page »