Debt news and policy Archives

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.

Buddy Loans administration – no money for cash refunds

UPDATE Advancis was dissolved in December 2023 Advancis Ltd, trading as Buddy Loans, went into administration on 7 September 2021. Buddy Loans was a small guarantor lender. Its loans were typical of the UK guarantor market - between £1,000 and £10,000 lent on a 1-5 year term at a 49.9% APR. The FCA describes these loans as "high cost". Buddy's slogan was: If you've got a good BUDDY, you … [Read more...]

The FCA’s Consumer Duty – a new overarching principle

On 31 July, the FCA's new Consumer Duty came into force, bringing in higher standards of consumer protection. You may not have heard of it, but financial services firms have been working for a couple of years to be ready for this. Delivering good outcomes for retail customers is the new 12th principle in the FCA's handbook and is described as the overarching principle. That sounds very … [Read more...]

Big hikes in Paypal interest rate & minimum payments

Paypal's interest rate increases Readers have reported getting an email from Paypal in June or July saying their interest rate will be going up a lot. In the email, Paypal warns: You will pay more each month and take longer to repay any outstanding balance on your account. Not good! A poll I ran on Instagram suggested more than half the Paypal accounts in the UK may be seeing an interest … [Read more...]

Making a claim to the Morses Scheme [old article]

UPDATE - Morses Club went into administration on 17 November 2023. This scheme has now been terminated. See Morses Club goes under – in administration – Scheme fails for details and what customers should do. Morses sent out a batch of decisions on 6 July 2023. Many people have found these confusing - see the comments below this article. At one point the email says in a grey box: "Morses … [Read more...]

Are you still paying fees on an old Gregory Pennington DMP?

For many years Gregory Pennington (GP), part of the Financial Wellness Group (FWG), has charged its clients monthly fees for running Debt Management Plans (DMPs) But MaPS awarded Gregory Pennington a contract that began on 1 February 2023. And it can't charge fees for DMPs under this contract. StepChange, Payplan and CAP have always provided "fee-free" DMPs, where all a client's payments go … [Read more...]

IVA mis-selling must stop – FCA finally acts to ban debt packagers

Many people have been mis-sold IVAs when they had a better (cheaper, quicker, less risky) debt option available. These other options were ignored or not properly described by some firms that should have given proper debt advice. IVAs are the only debt solution in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that generates large fees for the firms setting them up. These fees can distort debt advice given … [Read more...]

Has your debt with Hoist been sold to Lowell?

In September 2022, the debt collector Lowell bought Hoist's UK business, with over 2 million defaulted accounts. Most of these debts were loans, credit cards or overdrafts from lenders such as Barclays, Egg, HSBC, Newday and Santander. Lowell is moving over the Hoist accounts to its system. With so many accounts to be transferred, this is being done in batches. When yours is switched … [Read more...]

SafetyNet Credit goes into administration

UPDATE - in March 2024 the administrators announced they are no longer collecting any payments for the remaining loan balances. Also any more affordability complaints must made in the next few weeks. See SafetyNet & Tappily loans are written off for details. Indigo Michael Limited (IML) went into administration on 9 January 2023. It had two lending brands - SafetyNet Credit … [Read more...]

The new DRO hubs start in February – how will they work?

MaPS announced in November that it had signed contracts for debt services that will be effective from 1 February 2023. The two contracts for Debt Relief Order (DRO) hubs have been awarded to: Citizens Advice; and Gregory Pennington. There is a lot of uncertainty in the debt advice community about how these new DRO hubs will work in practice. With less than two months before they start, … [Read more...]

Personal Insolvency – the urgent need for change

The Insolvency Service issued a Call For Evidence (CfE) in July 2022, asking a wide range of questions about personal insolvency in England and Wales: The purpose of this document is to seek evidence that will help inform the Government on whether the current personal insolvency framework is still fit for purpose and, if not, what reforms are needed. The CfE started by saying: What should be … [Read more...]