When you get a letter which says Judgment for Claimant at the top, you have a County Court Judgment (CCJ). Someone has taken you to court and won a case against you. If you didn't reply to court papers (or you never received them) the letter will say Judgement for Claimant (in default): (When your letter says Claim Form at the top, you don't yet have a CCJ. Here a creditor is taking you … [Read more...]
COVID-19, financial decisions & those tricky exponential numbers
This is a guest post by David Steele, Policy and Research Manager at The Money Charity (currently furloughed). He was previously Policy Manager Financial Services for Age UK and Head of the Research and Statistics Unit at the UK Film Council. This blog is written in David’s personal capacity and does not necessarily represent the views of his current employer. With the Sunday … [Read more...]
Coronavirus – new rules to help people in IVAs
On April 17, the Insolvency Service published Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guidance for the Straightforward Consumer IVA Protocol. This guidance allows for greater flexibility to be applied to IVAs where the borrower has problems because of Coronavirus. An IVA firm can always go back to your creditors and ask them to approve changes to your IVA. This is called "a variation" but it can be a slow … [Read more...]
Wonga refunds – a small number of people STILL haven’t been paid!
*** Update: 21 April *** A lot of the remaining people still owed money have been paid this morning A few haven't. See comments below for details. People have been told they will all be paid by April 24. *** How to complain about not being paid *** 1. Ask the IPs for specific details of your case or put in a complaint If you don't want a standard reply, but for someone to actually … [Read more...]
Debt news – April 19 2020
Lots more news from the FCA this week. Coronavirus regulatory news You can sign up to the FCA's list to receive new daily email updates for coronavirus (Covid-19) news and publications published on their website. Motor finance agreements and coronavirus: draft temporary guidance for firms FCA: 3 month payment break, interest continues to accrue, broadly same as unsecured loans but with … [Read more...]
3 month car finance payment breaks because of Coronavirus
On 17 April the FCA published its proposed guidance for car finance lenders on how they should respond to customers who are affected by coronavirus. Earlier this week FCA guidance for unsecured loans came into force. Car finance wasn't included with that as the FCA said it wanted to look at it separately. Now we have the details of what the FCA is proposing for car finance. It broadly … [Read more...]
Coronavirus – what to do if you can’t pay bills & debts
You may be very worried about how you will cope if your income drops a lot because of coronavirus. This article looks at what you can do if you think your bills and debt repayments will be unmanageable. Things are changing fast: every week different sorts of help are being announced. On 9 April the regulator announced that people can get 3 month payment holidays for most sorts of loans and … [Read more...]
No calls or letters about a debt for years?
If its been four or five years since you stopped making payments to 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 or the debt collector has forgotten about it. This article looks at what is likely to happen as in 2019 debt collectors were taking more people to court for CCJs than they used to. There are fewer cases right at the … [Read more...]
Coronavirus – a good excuse for slow complaint handling?
Some lenders are telling borrowers that it will take longer to respond to affordability complaints asking for refunds because of Coronavirus. You have a right to send a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) after 8 weeks if the lender has not given you a Final Response. But should you let the lender have a few weeks extra? Most businesses are having some Coronavirus problems, so would … [Read more...]
Help with funeral costs
Funerals are expensive. The average funeral now costs £4,000 - that is an 80% increase in the last ten years. This article looks at ways of covering all or some of the funeral costs if you have to organise a funeral, let's say for Sally as I don't want to keep writing "the deceased". Funeral Payments can help if you are benefits If you get certain means-tested benefits including Universal … [Read more...]
A Money Detox – seven steps to improve your finances
Want to be better with money in 2020? If you eat and drank and sat on the sofa far too much over Christmas, you may be thinking of detoxing your body and getting fit. A Money Detox is the same approach for your finances if your bank balance looks sick and your credit card bill looks bloated. Perhaps this isn't just a nice-to-do but you NEED to be better, because you have lost your job or … [Read more...]
Coronavirus – good news about protecting your credit score
Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, the three big UK credit reference agencies, have agreed that having a temporary "payment holiday" with a lender because of Coronavirus problems won't harm your credit score. James Jones from Experian says: “We’re really pleased to have reached an industry-wide agreement on this. Public awareness of credit scores and the role they play continues to grow, so we … [Read more...]
BrightHouse enters administration – how does this affect customers?
On 20 March 2020, BrightHouse went into administration. BrightHouse sold electrical appliances, furniture, computers and mobiles on hire purchase. Its customers made weekly payments, sometimes described as "rent-to-own". Coronavirus has meant that its 240 shops have had to shut and many customers are likely to be asking for payment holidays as their income has fallen and they can't manage … [Read more...]
Amigo stops most lending & so do some other high cost lenders
On 24 March 2020 Amigo announced that: given the ongoing uncertainty that the economic implications of Covid-19 could have for our customer base, Amigo has taken the decision to temporarily pause all new lending activity, except for lending to key workers in exceptional circumstances. This article looks at why Amigo decided to do this and why other lenders, particularly high cost lenders to … [Read more...]
Coronavirus – 4 steps to take if you lose your job
A reader asks: Help! I have just been made redundant and I don't know how I am going manage, especially as we have debts. I'm only getting a few weeks redundancy pay. What should I do? A lot of firms are closing or making some staff redundant because of Coronavirus. If your firm has just closed suddenly, you may be worried about getting the pay for the weeks you have already worked, the pay … [Read more...]
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