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...]
Debt news and policy
Debt Camel articles on what's changing and what ought to change in the world of personal debt in Britain.
If you are interested in a specific area, look at: High cost credit news & policy and Insolvency news & policy.
And for my weekly round-ups of debt and poverty news items, see Weekly News Summaries.
Proposed DRO changes – a good start!
In January 2021 the Insolvency Services started a consultation on proposals to widen the eligibility criteria for Debt Relief Orders (DROs). It estimates these changes will mean that 15,500 more people could be eligible for a DRO each year. DROs were introduced in 2009 as a simpler alternative to bankruptcy for people with few assets and no realistic chance of paying much towards their … [Read more...]
Amigo’s Scheme (2) – 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 (1) timetable for approval & how it may work. This article is a follow-up, looking at seven points of concern about … [Read more...]
Amigo’s Scheme (1) timetable for approval & how it may work
On 25 January 2021, Amigo announced that it is proceeding with the next stage of the Scheme of Arrangement which it proposed in December. Amigo is proposing a Scheme because it can't afford to pay refunds to all the customers who were given unaffordable loans. It says it is likely to go into insolvency if the Scheme is not approved. About a million Amigo customers are being texted or emailed … [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...]
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...]
Lessons from Amigo – FOS complaint handling needs to be faster
If Amigo’s proposed Scheme of Arrangement goes forward, customers with complaints at the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) will have them returned to Amigo to resolve in the Scheme. My guess is that there may be 10,000 Amigo cases at FOS, possibly a lot more. UPDATE: FOS says it has about 13,000 open Amigo cases and about 500 new cases are arriving each week. If these customers would have had a … [Read more...]
Amigo’s Scheme – who’s next? Implications for the bad credit market
If Amigo's proposed Scheme of Arrangement is allowed to go forward by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), what would be the impact on the guarantor market and the wider bad credit market? This article looks at whether other lenders would also seek the protection of a Scheme and the implications for competition in the market. This is one of a series of articles looking at Amigo's proposed … [Read more...]
Will an Amigo Scheme of Arrangement abandon vulnerable customers?
We still know very few details about Amigo's proposed Scheme of Arrangement. I asked some questions in Amigo seeks refuge from complaints and made some estimates of the payouts consumers might get in Amigo - estimated numbers don’t look good. See Articles about Schemes of Arrangement for further articles eg about the competition issues that will worry the FCA about Amigo's Scheme. A whole … [Read more...]
Covid-19 – what help with debts & bills can you get?
Now we are all back in lockdown, this article looks at what support you can get with essential bills and debts. There are contact details at the bottom of this page for where it is suggested you should get help. More than four million payment breaks have been provided by lenders, but these lifelines are coming to an end. If you have had six months of breaks already for a debt you won't be able … [Read more...]
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