"Robo advice" is being used increasingly to provide investment advice to people who can't afford individual advice from an IFA. Can a similar approach deliver good quality debt advice through an automated online process? Face-to-face advice is sometimes seen as both expensive and a process that not all clients may want or need. In this article I examine what robo debt advice can do well, the … [Read more...]
How can my creditors find me?
If you are very worried about your debts, you may be wondering how easy it would be to disappear and leave them all behind. perhaps you have already gone, leaving Britain because of Brexit. Will your old records be linked with new ones on your credit records? Can your creditors find you if move, go abroad, change your name? Some of these sorts of ideas aren't very sensible - and there may be … [Read more...]
Scarcity – why people in debt need a breathing space
Scarcity: Why having too little means so much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir is a very interesting read for anyone interested in personal debt advice and policy in Britain. Scarcity doesn't just mean lack of money Having less than you need - scarcity - warps your decision making in similar ways whatever you are short of, whether that is money, or time, or if you are on a strict diet or … [Read more...]
How to complain about an IVA
Individual Voluntary Arrangements are complicated long-term legal agreements. A lot can change in your life during the 5,6 or 7 year term your IVA lasts. Sometimes your IVA firm isn't as helpful or sympathetic as you think it should be. You should always be treated politely and have things explained to you. If there is something really wrong with the way your IVA is being handled, then you … [Read more...]
More than a third of IVAs fail – and this may get worse
This post was written based on statistics published in 2022. Since then, statistics have been complicated by the special measures during COVID that temporarily prevented many IVAs from failing. Statistics published in early 2024 show: one in three (33%) IVAs that started between 2016 and 2018 failed of IVAs that started in 2022, 5.6% failed in the first year. This was about the same as … [Read more...]
Voluntary Termination (VT) – how to end your car finance early
When you are buying a car on HP or PCP finance, you have the right to hand the car back and end the agreement. This is known as Voluntary Termination (VT). Depending on how much you have paid, you may not need to pay any more after VTing the car. In 2024, many people are struggling to pay their car finance, with mortgage/rent, childcare and car insurance rising so fast. See Can you afford … [Read more...]
Provident’s uncashed cheques – at last they pay out
Provident has at last done the right thing and is paying customers who have cheques from Provident that are too old to be banked. Good! I expect this may affect several thousand people who have cheques ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand pounds. If you have one of these cheques, Provident should have sent you an email about it. Here is an example of what a Debt Camel reader's email … [Read more...]
Can you afford your car finance payments?
Can you afford your monthly car payments? You may have lost your job or be worried that may happen. You or your partner may have had their hours cut. Or your business may be making less money. Or your other bills may have gone up a lot. Mortgage, rent, petrol, energy bills, council tax, food... What sort of car finance do you have? This article looks at your options if you have a Hire … [Read more...]
Why the FSCS doesn’t cover payday and other lenders
In 2018, when Wonga went into administration, people started asking isn't there some kind of guarantee system that would step in if Wonga fails? Won't the FSCS help? This has become more important every year since then, with most of the major payday lenders failing, including the Money Shop, QuickQuid, Sunny and Myjar. From 2020, other sorts of high cost lenders have also being failing, … [Read more...]
How many DMPs succeed and how many fail?
If you are thinking about a Debt Management Plan (DMP), you may want to know how many DMPs succeed, and how many run into problems. This turns out to be a surprisingly difficult question to answer! A DMP that doesn't repay all debts may not have failed! There are many situations where a DMP that doesn't "complete" has done exactly what it was wanted for. It is hard to see these as … [Read more...]
What happens when you can’t afford IVA payments
If you can't make the payment to your Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) this month, don't panic! There may be options for you to cope and get your IVA back on track. IMPORTANT in 2022 there is now a special case - if you cannot afford the repayments mainly because of rising prices and bills. For that situation new rules have been introduced and there is a LOT more help you can get - see … [Read more...]
ICL / Money Shop Scheme ends
A first payment of 4.31p in the £ was paid in May/June 2021. A second, much smaller payment of 0.65p in the £ is being paid on 14 or 18 January 2022. If you do not receive this second payment, see below for what to do. Background to the Scheme This "Scheme of Arrangement" covers borrowers from the ICL brand names, Money Shop, Payday UK and Payday Express, who were given … [Read more...]
Worried about rent arrears and being evicted?
Increasing numbers of people are worried about being able to pay the rent. Rent arrears are priority debts because if you don't do anything about them, you are very likely to be evicted. If you have rent arrears now, or you are worried that soon you won't be able to pay the rent, you need to get good advice as soon as possible on your options. Doing this sooner rather later helps … [Read more...]
2021 – the Debt Camel review of the year
This is my review of the major events of 2021 in the debt sector. It doesn't go into detail about what happened, it mainly looks at how well the year went in practice and why bits of it didn't go better... Inevitably it concentrates on the areas that most interested me! And my ratings are just a bit of fun. I'll divide them into groups: FCA-related; Insolvency Service-related; external … [Read more...]
Sales bargains, and how to avoid the bad buys!
The number of people setting off for the shops in post-Christmas sales in 2021 was down by more than a third compared with 2019. Lots of us are still bargain hunting though, we have just switched to online. But in-store or online, how do you spot the real bargains? It's great to take advantage of a Sale - but can you be sure you are not the one being taken advantage of? There is a whole … [Read more...]
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