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...]
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.
Amigo to close & Scheme goes into Fallback – implications for customers
August 2023 - the first "UPHOLD" decisions are being received. Comments on this article are now closed. Please see the comments below the main Amigo Claims page to see what is happening. On 23 March 2023 Amigo announced that it has been unable to raise the equity it needed to continue in business. This means that the Scheme of Arrangement currently underway will change into the … [Read more...]
Klarna starts charging late fees and claims this will benefit customers
Klarna is going to charge fees to customers in the UK that miss payments. From the mid March 2023, these will be: £5 a late fee; no more than two late fees will be charged on an order; late fees cannot total more than 25% of the value of an order. This is a major shift for Klarna, who has so far charged late fees in other countries but not in the UK. Clearpay and Laybuy charge £6 … [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 FCA consults on supporting mortgage borrowers
On 7 December 2022, the FCA issued a consultation on Guidance for firms supporting their existing mortgage borrowers impacted by the rising cost of living. FCA consultations are normally lengthy, but here the FCA said: To ensure we can act quickly to enable firms to help consumers, we are consulting on this guidance over the next 10 working days. This is the sort of short deadline the FCA … [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...]
QIS is the second large IVA firm to go under in 2022
Quality Insolvency Services (QIS) went into administration on 23 November 2022. They are one of the larger IVA firms. It is estimated that there may be about 13,500 IVAs currently in progress at QIS and they were 5th in the Insolvency Service's table of IVAs registered in 2021: 1 Creditfix 17,758 21.90% 2 The Insolvency Group 10,962 13.5% 3 Hanover … [Read more...]
StepChange IVAs – a mass variation to help with cost of living problems
UPDATE - Unfortunately this mass variation was not approved. But any StepChange clients who are having difficulty with their IVA payments should contact StepChange, who can look at what help can be provided for you. It is still possible to get individual IVAs changed, it was just the attempt to get all IVAs changed that was not agreed. Many people with IVAs are finding it difficult to … [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...]
Morses Club – you can still make complaints (August 2022)
UPDATE - in November 2023 the Morses Scheme failed - see Morses Club goes under – in administration for details In July 2022, Morses Club announced it was looking into a Scheme of Arrangement to cap affordability complaint refunds. At that point there was no mention of any change to its complaint handling, see my article Morses considers Scheme to cut refunds to customers. Morses … [Read more...]
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