On 11 April the Harrington Brooks/One Advice group of companies were put into administration. They are a major commercial provider of debt solutions and the same day it was announced that their clients were being transferred to two Think Money brands: their Debt Management Plan (DMP) clients have been transferred to Gregory Pennington Ltd; their Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) … [Read more...]
Debt news and policy
Debt Camel articles on what's happening in the world of personal debt in Britain.
For my collections of other news items, please see Weekly News Summaries.
Should paying your rent help you get a mortgage?
It sounds like common sense to say that if you have paid £900 rent a month for a couple of years then you can obviously afford a mortgage costing £900 a month. And if you live in London or the south-east, you will probably add that rents are so high you can't afford to save much for a deposit, so you need your good rental payment record to be taken into account in a mortgage application. This … [Read more...]
SMI is now only given as a loan (LMI) – should you agree to this?
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) helps people with the cost of their mortgage if they aren't working. It has been paid as a benefit since 1948, but on 6 April 2018 this changed and now it will only be given as a loan that is secured on your house. You may see LMI (loans for Morgage Interest) used as the new name for this, but the government is continuing to use the term SMI. This will … [Read more...]
SMI – what happens if you haven’t agreed to take the loan?
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) used to be paid as a benefit to people who weren't working - this ended on 5 April 2018. From 6 April someone newly applying can only get help with their mortgage costs through a secured loan instead. This is sometimes referred to as Loan for Mortgage Interest (LMI), but the old name SMI is also used. If you have been getting SMI before April, there are now … [Read more...]
Free access to your information – from 25th May!
You have the right to get a copy of the information that an organisation holds about you. But at the moment, under the Data Protection Act, this usually costs £10. On 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force and this £10 charge will end. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which regulates this area, tells organisations that after 25 May they: must … [Read more...]
SMI watch – 25 March – no real progress in last week
On 23 March the DWP published the latest statistics on the switch from paying Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) as a benefit to giving it as a secured loan showing: how many people getting SMI have been contacted by letter and phone ; what the people who have been successfully contacted are choosing to do - take the loan, decline the loan or are currently undecided. No real progress … [Read more...]
Barclays to refund some customers in arrears
This week Barclays has quietly started a major refund program to some customers with overdrafts, loans or credit cards who have been in financial difficulty since 2013. This is described on the bank's home page - Arrears assistance review - We’re making things right. It says: After a careful review, we found that from October 2013, we didn’t always provide the service we should have to some … [Read more...]
PerfectHome refunds £2million for imperfect lending
PerfectHome announced on 21 March that they would be refunding just over two million pounds to 37,000 customers.These payments will be made automatically over the next six months. This article looks at how much you may receive and what to do if you think you should get a refund but you aren't on PerfectHome's list. PerfectHome sells furniture, white goods and tech/entertainment items to low … [Read more...]
DWP minister says SMI loan ‘can be backdated’
Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) is changing on 6 April 2018 from being paid as a welfare benefit to being given as a secured loan. Kit Malthouse, a DWP Minister, told Radio 4's Moneybox on 17 March that he was "relatively confident we will be in a good position when it [6 April] comes." He stated that people who did not apply for the new loan by then will be able to have it … [Read more...]
DWP chaos? Only 10,000 have agreed to new SMI loan
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)'s Economic and Fiscal Outlook paper, published today with the Chancellor's Spring Statement, has this statement: DWP has told us that all current claimants have been contacted about the intention to convert their [Support for Mortgage Interest] award into a loan and of those that have responded, over half have indicated they are not interested while less … [Read more...]
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