In 2021, the Instant Cash Loans (ICL) Scheme Arrangement, Money Shop, Payday UK and Payday Express customers whose debts were sold to PRAC Financial (PRAC) have not been given set-off between their ICL redress and the loan they still owe. The same situation could occur with other Schemes of Arrangement and other debt collectors. In 2022, it seems to have happened to some Provident loans that … [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.
Barclaycard – more big cuts to credit limits in 2021
In April 2021, Barclaycard is cutting a lot of customers' credit limits. Some of the reductions are dramatic. Here is what one Debt Camel reader said: Today I received a letter from Barclaycard informing me my credit limit is being reduced from £5,000 to £250 in 1 months time. My balance is zero and has been for several months. Not very happy about this as it’s there for emergencies etc and … [Read more...]
Amigo’s 1st Scheme – key points to think about
This article relates to Amigo’s first Scheme, which was rejected in May 2021. See Amigo's second Scheme for the latest news. On 25 January 2021 Amigo announced that it is proceeding with the next stage of its proposed Scheme of Arrangement and published the formal Practice Statement Letter (PSL) that describes the Scheme for the customers affected. I have updated this article with some … [Read more...]
Barclaycard send letters saying they raised credit limits too high
UPDATE in April 2021, Barclaycard has made another set of cuts to customers' credit limits. In July 2020 Barclaycard sent out letters to some customers saying their credit limit may have been set too high. They say: We've recently reviewed the way we set some of our customers' credit limits and can see that the limit we gave you previously may have been higher than it should have been … [Read more...]
Major changes for thousands of customers with Aperture & Vanguard IVAs
In Autumn 2020 two of the largest IVA firms have recently announced the latest in a long line of customer transfers within the industry: all Aperture's open IVAs have been sold to Jarvis Insolvency; and Vanguard's open IVAs will be administered by Ebenegate. UPDATE: In February 2021 Jarvis rebranded and it now calls itself Debt Movement. Sale of Aperture's IVAs to Jarvis On 5 … [Read more...]
Kerrigan v Elevate Credit – an “unfair relationship”
The judgment in the Kerrigan & others v Elevate Credit International Ltd was published on 5 August 2020. Elevate Credit International was a large UK payday lender, trading as Sunny. Kerrigan and the other eleven claimants were Sunny customers who had made affordability complaints to Sunny through a claims company. The claims company brought the case and selected six claimants; Sunny … [Read more...]
Wonga – what happened during the administration
The administration of WDFC, the legal company who operated the Wonga brand, was completed in August 2020. The company was finally dissolved in December 2020. See Companies House records for details. Background to the administration - rising complaint numbers A payday loan is "unaffordable" if repaying left you short so you had to get into more debt, by borrowing again or getting behind on … [Read more...]
Will the Money Shop really pay 80% of refunds? No!
UPDATES In August 2019 the Money Shop announced a Scheme it expected would pay c 80p in the £ to customers of the Money Shop, Payday UK and Payday Express who are owed compensation for unaffordable loans. I said pigs might fly - see the article below. And I think other people such as the FCA and the Ombudsman also express some scepticism... A month late, in September 2019, a revised version … [Read more...]
Holding Money & Debt up to the Light: Transparency and the Standard Financial Statement
This is a guest post by Dr Joseph Spooner, Assistant Professor of Insolvency Law at the LSE and the author of Bankruptcy – the Case for Relief in an Economy of Debt. He had previously worked at the Law Reform Commission of Ireland, where his papers influenced the enactment of the Irish Personal Insolvency Act 2012. Systems for addressing difficulties of over-indebted households in England … [Read more...]
Guarantor loans – why guarantors & borrowers need extra protection
Guarantor loans are coming into the regulatory spotlight. The FCA wrote to CEOs in March 2019 saying it will be looking at affordability and whether potential guarantors have enough information to understand how likely it is that they may have to make the loan payments. In a speech, Jonathan Davis said: Recent work we have done in this area showed that many guarantors are making at least 1 … [Read more...]