My pick of last week's news is BrightHouse going under. If you haven't read them, And so the appalling human consequences of the austerity experiment become clear and What debt advice tells us about supporting people affected by coronavirus are both very good. Hopefully, some actions from the FCA summons council of war (behind paywall, sorry) will turn out to be the pick of next week's … [Read more...]

All articles are Coronavirus-related this week. My pick of them is The UK’s self-employed are falling through the Covid-19 policy net. Tweet of the week “[Universal Credit] advances should be grants, not loans” People eligible for Universal Credit benefits can be given a cash advance, as a loan, within a day of applying. Richard Lane of debt advice charity @StepChange says the … [Read more...]

No prizes for guessing what the dominant news story is this week. But for a bit of good news, the School Uniform Private Members Bill was passed unopposed. In a normal year this would have a good chance of becoming law... Tweet of the week The million pound question... BBC Radio 5 Live: "Could you and your family live on £90+ a week?" Chancellor Rishi Sunak: "Uh, uh, thi- thi- thi- … [Read more...]

My pick of last week's news is the BrightHouse story. Tweet of the week "Are you lonely?" "Yeah, no-one's ever asked me that before... I am, very"@vicderbyshire has been to meet those sleeping rough in London's financial district This is the story of Daisy and Jade.https://t.co/GB43uDMlUX pic.twitter.com/CHCsxRgllC — Victoria Derbyshire (@VictoriaLIVE) February 27, … [Read more...]

My pick of last week's news is the blog on bailiff reform - body-worn cameras are not enough. Tweet of the week "Evidence and theory say the same thing - migrants don't significantly depress wages...but the media prefer to give a platform to racists than educate people about economics." https://t.co/7vaZnb3Bee — Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) February 22, 2020 Debt news A year on … [Read more...]

My pick of last week's news is the Citizens Advice report Making Ends Meet. Tweet of the week The @financialombuds statistics for Q4 2019 show VERY high affordability complaint uphold rates. 90% guarantor loans - 86% home credit - 75% instalment loans - 73% payday loans. Time for all the lenders to learn from FOS decisions as DISP says! pic.twitter.com/wZDYEdBjXY — Debt Camel … [Read more...]

My pick of last week's news are the persistent credit card debt articles. Tweet of the week Well the Film came out in 2016 4 years it’s taken and at last The DWP have changed the Shite music on the phones but not sod all else !! ⁦@KenLoachSixteen⁩ #DWP pic.twitter.com/0y672acTor — Dave Johns (@davejohnscomic) February 3, 2020 Debt news Dear CEO: our approach to customers who have … [Read more...]

It's been a busy week for news:  Amigo puts itself up for sale, IVA early failure rates up again, FCA asks banks to explain their new overdraft charges. But my pick has to be the 4.3p in the £ which is all the 400,000 people owed compensation by Wonga are getting from the administrators. Debt news Very low Wonga payout: Wonga victims will only get 4.3p in the pound my article; … [Read more...]

Benefits and overdrafts are the main themes this week. Debt news Problem debt and the social security system StepChange: "the social security system would not meet basic regulatory requirements of consumer credit firms to treat customers fairly." Detailed statistics about how UC creates debt problems. Overdraft: Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland introduce up to 50% overdraft … [Read more...]

My pick of last week's news is that gambling on credit cards is to be banned. Tweet of the week Waiting for a funding decision today... everyone thinks clients with #deficitbudgets are a priority don't they? — Anna Hall Ⓥ (@Anna__Hall) January 17, 2020 Debt news Love Island stars promote buy now, pay later firm Klarna accused of pushing customers into debt Sun: Alongside … [Read more...]