Debt news – September 23

My pick of last week’s news is Social Metrics Commission announces a new measure of poverty.

 

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Debt news

The cash point mistake that is costing us more than £570,000 a day – and how to avoid it Sun: More of us are using our credit cards to get cash from ATMs, but this can mean high fees and can even effect your credit rating.

Peer-to-peer lenders await ultimate test Times (£ paywall) Fledgling players such as RateSetter and soon-to-float Funding Circle have yet to weather the storms of a financial crisis

Wonga/alternatives:

• Church of England pulls out of Wonga rescue effort Guardian: The church commissioners are understood to have argued that they did not have the expertise to properly value the distressed loan book and they were concerned that the need to write off certain loans could be legally problematical given its status as an entity set up to benefit of the church.
• What might a post-Wonga world look like? Birmingham Business School blog: there are many other types of high cost credit still available in the marketplace so further action is needed if we want a post-Wonga world to look significantly different from what went before.
• Need a £250 loan? Here are some options if you’re broke Guardian: Payday lenders argue they provide a vital service, but these are some of the alternatives.
• Short-term lender offers 0% interest loans to members yourmoney.com: CreditSpring, a lender offering interest-free loans in return for a membership fee has launched this month, giving people in need of a cash injection an alternative to payday loans.
• Why are Britons are worried about debt The Economist: They are being squeezed by both the labour market and the welfare state

The Money Stats – September 2018 – Public Sector Improvements Mask Household Debt Concerns Money Charity:  consumer credit increased by £11.9 billion (5.9%) over the year, an increase of £227.94 per UK adult, while the average student debt in England, for the latest student cohort to begin repayments, reached £32,220.

Tom Watson: Labour would ban gambling with credit cards Guardian: Deputy leader says crackdown on betting industry necessary to tackle addiction ‘epidemic’.

CMC owners face an end to ‘phoenixing’ Legal Futures: The current regime does not involve key managers being authorised before they start their role. The consultation said: “This means that individuals who are not fit and proper to lead a CMC may close down one CMC and move to another, without fulfilling their obligations to customers.

Crooks stole my identity and opened a bank account… then HSBC said I owed £3,000 and wouldn’t help me Mail: His story raises serious questions about how easy it is for fraudsters to open bank accounts in other people’s names — and how hard it is for victims to prove they are innocent.

Other news

Social Metrics Commission launches a new measure of UK poverty

• What is the new UK poverty measure – and why is it needed? Guardian: New indicator goes beyond relative income by taking into account core living costs and people’s wider resources.
• New measure of poverty is not perfect but it is the least imperfect one we have IFS: Looking for a single metric, it combines elements of the current absolute and relative measures by comparing incomes to a rolling three-year average of median incomes.

L&Q scraps all fixed-term tenancies Times (£ paywall): L&Q, which is responsible for more than 90,000 tenancies across London and the southeast, said that all of its 8,500 tenants on fixed-term arrangements would be switched over to having a home for life.

Millions overcharged for mobile contracts BBC: Three of Britain’s biggest mobile networks, EE, Three and Vodafone, continue to charge for handsets even after the cost has been paid off.