"Robo advice" is being used increasingly to provide investment advice to people who can't afford individual advice from an IFA. Can a similar approach deliver good quality debt advice through an automated online process? Face-to-face advice is sometimes seen as both expensive and a process that not all clients may want or need. In this article I examine what robo debt advice can do well, 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.
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.
Scarcity – why people in debt need a breathing space
Scarcity: Why having too little means so much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir is a very interesting read for anyone interested in personal debt advice and policy in Britain. Scarcity doesn't just mean lack of money Having less than you need - scarcity - warps your decision making in similar ways whatever you are short of, whether that is money, or time, or if you are on a strict diet or … [Read more...]
More than a third of IVAs fail – and this may get worse
The latest official government statistics (IVA Outcomes - 2021 ) show that increasing numbers of IVAs do not complete. They fail, leaving the borrower back with their debts. 32% of IVAs started in 2016 have failed. And a lot of these 2016 IVAs are still continuing, so the final failure rate will be over a third. If you are thinking of starting an IVA, you need to know about these IVA failure … [Read more...]
Provident’s uncashed cheques – at last they pay out
Provident has at last done the right thing and is paying customers who have cheques from Provident that are too old to be banked. Good! I expect this may affect several thousand people who have cheques ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand pounds. If you have one of these cheques, Provident should have sent you an email about it. Here is an example of what a Debt Camel reader's email … [Read more...]
Why the FSCS doesn’t cover payday and other lenders
In 2018, when Wonga went into administration, people started asking isn't there some kind of guarantee system that would step in if Wonga fails? Won't the FSCS help? This has become more important every year since then, with most of the major payday lenders failing, including the Money Shop, QuickQuid, Sunny and Myjar. From 2020, other sorts of high cost lenders have also being failing, … [Read more...]
ICL / Money Shop – a 2nd small payment to be paid on Jan 14/18
A first payment of 4.31p in the £ was paid in May/June 2021. A second, much smaller payment of 0.65p in the £ is being paid on 14 or 18 January 2022. If you do not receive this second payment, see below for what to do. Background to the Scheme This "Scheme of Arrangement" covers borrowers from the ICL brand names, Money Shop, Payday UK and Payday Express, who were given … [Read more...]
2021 – the Debt Camel review of the year
This is my review of the major events of 2021 in the debt sector. It doesn't go into detail about what happened, it mainly looks at how well the year went in practice and why bits of it didn't go better... Inevitably it concentrates on the areas that most interested me! And my ratings are just a bit of fun. I'll divide them into groups: FCA-related; Insolvency Service-related; external … [Read more...]
Amigo proposes a second Scheme – but is it fairer?
UPDATE - in May 2022, the court approved the new Amigo Scheme. See Amigo's new Scheme - time to make a claim for what you need to do now. On 13 December 2021, Amigo proposed its new Scheme of Arrangement. The Practice Statement Letter (PSL) is a 21-page overview of the new Scheme. The numbers in the PSL have now changed Amigo says: We hope a successful new Scheme will also allow a … [Read more...]
Amigo now lets some people pause paying – the right of Equitable Set Off
UPDATE In May 2022 the Amigo second Scheme was approved by the court. Everyone can now make a claim to this Scheme – if you have a current loan you should do this as soon as possible. See Amigo’s Scheme – time to submit a claim for details. With a current loan, you have three options once you have made a claim: you can carry on paying the loan if it is affordable. if you have paid … [Read more...]
Amigo – no second Scheme before April at the earliest
On 29 November 2021, Amigo published its results for the six months ended 30 September 2021. Amigo's first Scheme of Arrangement was rejected by the Court in May. Since then, Amigo has been trying to come up with a new Scheme that is fairer to the customers given unaffordable loans. Amigo says: "the proposed contribution to the new Scheme will be significantly increased from that of the … [Read more...]
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