Debt Camel

Answers to questions about debts and credit ratings - in plain English!

  • Home
  • Refunds ▾
    • QuickQuid pays 53p in the £
    • Amigo – how to vote?
    • Provident assesses claims
    • Overdraft refunds
    • Large loans & car finance
    • Catalogues & credit cards
    • Payday loan refunds
  • Debt problems ▾
    • Can’t pay bills & debts?
    • Sold to a debt collector
    • Old debts
    • CCJs
  • Debt solutions ▾
    • Payment arrangements
    • Debt Management Plans
    • Debt Relief Orders
    • IVAs
    • Bankruptcy
    • Compare 2 solutions
  • Money ▾
    • Budgeting & Saving
    • Credit ratings
    • Mortgages
  • Latest ▾
    • All posts
    • Debt news & policy
    • A reader asks…
  • About ▾
    • About Debt Camel
    • Media
    • Contact

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.

I write a weekly round-up of debt and poverty news on Sundays. There are only kept for a month or two, see Weekly News Summaries.

Pensions safe in bankruptcy after Appeal Court decision

Following an Appeal Court ruling on Horton vs Henry, published in October 2016, pensions are once again safe if you go bankrupt. The full judgment is here. The background to this case was: before 2000, pensions formed part of a bankrupt's estate and would be taken once the bankrupt reached pension age; the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act changed this. For people going bankrupt after … [Read more...]

October 8, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Insolvency news & policy, Pensions

IVA lead generators – the case for regulation

IVAs are now the most common form of personal insolvency in England.  Clear Debt has recently stated: Individual Voluntary Arrangements) (IVAs) have become the procedure of choice for those people who have debts they can’t pay and a regular income to enable them to make contributions to their debts. But how often is the choice of an IVA based on accurate information about the alternatives and … [Read more...]

September 9, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Insolvency news & policy

IVA early exit loans – Perinta/Creditfix and Sprout/Aperture

Should you take a loan to end your IVA early?

Early IVA exit loans from Perinta offered in 2016 to Creditfix customers Some people have been told they can end their IVA by taking an "early exit loan" from Perinta Finance Ltd, via a broker called Just Lending.  Creditfix is sending these emails, but the loan may be available to people in IVAs with other firms. Pearse Flynn, the CEO of Creditfix, used to be a director of Perinta, but no longer … [Read more...]

August 30, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Insolvency news & policy

Paying BadDebtor won’t help your credit record

A reader who had gone bankrupt recently was surprised to get a letter from "The Register of Bad Debtors". This offered to remove her name from their records if she pays them £49.95. She asked if BadDebtor can really do this? There are also reports that people with IVAs are receiving similar letters. In 2017 the Bad Debtor website was taken down. Before that, some people I had contacted - none … [Read more...]

August 15, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Credit ratings, General news & policy

Re-thinking Insolvency Practitioner Regulation

This is a guest post by Peter Sargent, an Insolvency Practitioner and Consultant at BHP Clough Corporate Solutions. He is a member of the IPA’s Membership & Authorisation Committee and former president of R3. The failure of Varden Nuttall (and its holding company), a middle ground IVA bulk provider has brought into sharp relief the current system of Insolvency Practitioner (IP) … [Read more...]

August 1, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: guest post, Insolvency news & policy

The 2016 IVA Protocol – what has changed?

In June the new 2016 IVA Protocol was published. It would have be helpful if the Standing Committee had issued a guide to the changes from the 2014 Protocol, but they haven't, so this article looks at the significant changes, ignoring routine updating (such as replacing OFT by FCA) and some which seem to me to be very minor. My  thanks to Michelle Butler who wrote about the changes earlier this … [Read more...]

July 8, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Insolvency news & policy

Interest only mortgages and debt advice

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who regulates the mortgage lenders, issued an update in 2018 saying they are still concerned about the number of interest-only mortgages customers will not be able to repay at the end. It said: Since 2013 good progress has been made in reducing the number of people with interest-only mortgages. However, we are very concerned that a significant number of … [Read more...]

June 27, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: General news & policy

Varden Nuttall – what happened

Varden Nuttall, a mid-size Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) firm, was placed into administration on 24 March 2016. The administrators discovered that £9million was missing from the client account and evidence of fraudulent practices by Philip Nuttall, one of the insolvency practitioners and a director of Varden Nuttall Limited, In October 2018, Philip Nuttall was found to be in … [Read more...]

June 7, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: Insolvency news & policy

gov.uk debt advice is dangerously simplistic

The gov.uk website has a new section on debt advice. It asks four simple-sounding questions: where in the UK do you live? do you owe more than £20,000? do you have assets (things you own) worth more than £1,000 in total? do you have at least £50 left over every month after paying your household bills and living expenses? Based on your answers, it then suggests which of a DMP, an … [Read more...]

April 1, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: General news & policy

Why the FCA should ban the Compass debt advice model

In March 2016, the clients of Compass Debt Counsellors found out their debt management firm had gone into administration. Many people had thousands of pounds being held by Compass and may not get this money back. In This Compass points to Debt Misery, Legal Beagles points out: "This form of daylight robbery is hugely rewarding because no one ever seems to go to prison for such crime. If I … [Read more...]

March 17, 2016 Author: Sara Williams Tagged With: For debt advisers

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • Next Page »

Subscribe to Debt Camel

Get an email when a new article is published:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Recent articles

  • Debt news – 15 May 2022
  • Amigo’s new Scheme – the voting
  • Level – a “credit builder” card to avoid
  • Debt advice in an age of inflation

Help with your debts

Recommended places for debt advice

About Debt Camel

This is the personal website of Sara Williams.

More about Debt Camel.
Privacy policy
Comments Policy

 

Copyright © Debt Camel 2022