Today the FCA has proposed a set of measures that will offer help to many people whose income has been affected by Coronavirus. These include: firms will be expected to offer a 3 month payment holiday freeze on loans and credit cards; banks should not charge interest on the first £500 of any arranged overdrafts; banks must ensure no customers with overdrafts are worse off because of the … [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.
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...]
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 day more different sorts of help are being announced. This article has been updated on 2 April. More help may later be available but if you think your … [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 – lenders should be helpful & clear – like Zopa & Nationwide
Every lender in Britain has borrowers who have been badly hit financially by Coronavirus. I often criticise lenders and/or regulators. So it's great to be able to point to two lenders that ares providing the help its borrowers are most likely to need and is communicating this well. Zopa offers payments freeze on its loans Zopa, the peer-to-peer lender, has this page of information for its … [Read more...]
Coronavirus – how will mortgage payment holidays work?
All mortgage lenders are going to be introducing a three-month mortgage payment holiday for borrowers affected by coronavirus. That is the headline promise. But are you eligible, how can you claim and how will it work? I will keep this article updated as more information emerges. Who is eligible for a mortgage payment holiday? UK Finance, the trade body for banks and other mortgage … [Read more...]
Coronavirus – worried you can’t pay your IVA?
A reader has asked: My husband has an IVA which we pay every month. Now the kids are off school because of coronavirus and a friend will be looking after them for a charge. Will we be able to reduce our IVA payment? Many people with IVAs will be very worried about their finances. Their income may have fallen, possibly to nothing because of coronavirus. Or they may have extra expenses. Not … [Read more...]
Wonga refunds – some people STILL haven’t been paid!
*** Update: 26th March *** A few people have been paid this morning. but not all. See comments below for details. *** Administrators update 19th March *** See Wonga's home page for details: The Joint Administrators have now attempted to make dividend payments to over 443,000 creditors representing 98% of the creditor population. This includes payments to creditors whose payments were … [Read more...]
Board room bust-up at Amigo
On 4 March 2020 the founder and majority shareholder of Amigo, James Benamor, resigned from the board which he had only rejoined in December. In the evening he published a blog saying that the company was "committing slow motion suicide". Benamor said the board needed to choose between challenging recent FOS decisions on affordability complaints in court by Judicial Review or accept that … [Read more...]
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