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.

And for my weekly round-ups of debt and poverty news items, see Weekly News Summaries.

Cash Genie – administrators say not enough money to pay full refunds

On 2 November 2018, RSM wrote to creditors of Ariste Holdings, best known for its Cash Genie payday lender brand, saying that it was no longer solvent. As a result, customers expected a refund or compensation will no longer receive the full amount they are due. Background - Cash Genie was solvent when it stopped trading in 2016 In 2015 the FCA, which regulates payday lenders, ordered Cash Genie … [Read more...]

How the Wonga administrators will handle complaints & refunds- the Proposals

The Wonga Administrators sent a letter in late October to some of Wonga's creditors with their proposals to handle the administration. These include: background on the events before administration; how to decide the payday loan affordability complaints that have already been sent to Wonga; and how to encourage other customers to submit a complaint. These Proposals were agreed by a … [Read more...]

News snippets about high cost credit

This page brings together news items about various types of high-cost lending in Britain, including payday loans, guarantor loans, doorstep lending, logbook loans, rent to own and other forms of high-cost credit. In March 2019, the FCA sent a letter to all high cost credit lenders except overdrafts and credit cards outlining its strategy for supervision for 2019 and 2020 - my comments … [Read more...]

Wonga – Latest News on refunds (kept updated)

On 30 August, Wonga stopped lending and went into administration. At that date: there were over 200,000 people with current loans from Wonga - many of them may have a good case for the interest to be removed from their balance so they only repay what they borrowed; there were 24,000 affordability complaints awaiting a decision by Wonga and 9,500 complaints against Wonga with the Financial … [Read more...]

Letter from Wonga administrators – do you need to do anything?

The Wonga administrators sent a letter, with voting forms, last week to Wonga creditors. These creditors include some people who have made payday loan affordability complaints as they are owed money by Wonga. Customers who have commented on my Wonga Refunds - Latest news page have said things like It's very confusing or I can't make head or tail of it. And above all Do we need to do … [Read more...]

QuickQuid – misleading customers about loans over 6 years old

Mr X has received a reply from QuickQuid saying why it will not consider an affordability refund on payday loans that are more than six years old. This part of QuickQuid's reply isn't related to the details of Mr X's case. It looks like a standard response QuickQuid is sending everyone whose complaints include these older loans. I often see pretty poor replies from payday lenders to people … [Read more...]

Dear Payday Lender CEO – should you start a redress program?

On October 15, the FCA sent a Dear CEO letter entitled Affordability of High Cost Short Term (HCST) loans to payday lenders. This letter tells the lenders to review their affordability assessments. There are some very clear points about what the FCA expects a payday lender to do if it is not making good affordability assessments now or hasn't done in the past. "Chains of loans" over an … [Read more...]

Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) is now a loan – should you agree to this?

Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) helps people with the cost of their mortgage if they aren't working. It has been paid as a benefit since 1948, but in April 2018 this changed and now it is only given as a loan that is secured on your house. Here is the DWP leaflet describing the new loan: DWP SMI Factsheet (6 April). You may see LMI (loans for Morgage Interest) used as the new name for this, … [Read more...]

FCA warns “Debt Packagers” about poor debt advice to enter IVAs

On 5 October, the FCA wrote a Dear CEO letter saying: We have undertaken a review of a small sample of debt advice provided by Debt Packager firms and are very concerned about the poor standards we have seen... The FCA then asks the CEO to review: your quality of debt advice; the firm’s identification and treatment of vulnerable customers; financial promotions, and systems and … [Read more...]

Ombudsman decisions in 2018 on payday loans over 6 years old

The Financial Ombudsman (FOS) has published in September 2018 two Decisions involving payday loans over six years old: Mr H has complained about fifty-four payday loans Lender C lent to him between March 2010 and September 2014. Mrs W’s complaint is about nine short-term (often referred to as ‘payday’) from Lender D between November 2009 and July 2012. In both cases FOS has decided that … [Read more...]