The Lloyds Banking Group - Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland - are changing overdraft charges for customers from August. Some are increasing, some are reducing. The new 19.9% and 29.9% charges are lower than most major banks. But the new 49.9% charge will be the highest overdraft rate charged by a high street bank. The current charges This is the first change since 2020. Before that Lloyds … [Read more...]
Barclaycard cuts minimum payments – this may cost you a lot
In April 2024, Barclaycard has told many customers that it will be setting lower minimum payments on their accounts from July. From a poll I ran on Instagram, Barclaycard has informed about 90% of cardholders. It looks as though this change is going to be across the board, affecting everyone. The messages are going out by email, letter or text. Look out for the communication if you haven't yet … [Read more...]
Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain – ask for a refund
Loans2Go offers what I have called the worst loans in Britain. Since 2021 they have been charging 770% APR. See the representative example Loans2Go quotes on its website: £550 borrowed for 18 months is a monthly payment of £113 this adds up to £2035, a bit less than four times what was borrowed. MUCH cheaper to get a payday loan than a Loans2Go loan Of course Loans2Go don't … [Read more...]
The FCA’s Consumer Duty – a new overarching principle
On 31 July, the FCA's new Consumer Duty came into force, bringing in higher standards of consumer protection. You may not have heard of it, but financial services firms have been working for a couple of years to be ready for this. Delivering good outcomes for retail customers is the new 12th principle in the FCA's handbook and is described as the overarching principle. That sounds very … [Read more...]
Are you still paying fees on an old Gregory Pennington DMP?
For many years Gregory Pennington (GP), part of the Financial Wellness Group (FWG), has charged its clients monthly fees for running Debt Management Plans (DMPs) But MaPS awarded Gregory Pennington a contract that began on 1 February 2023. And it can't charge fees for DMPs under this contract. StepChange, Payplan and CAP have always provided "fee-free" DMPs, where all a client's payments go … [Read more...]
Klarna now allows people to “opt out” of future credit
On 24 May 2023, Klarna introduced a new feature that allows a customer to "opt out" of future credit. This covers Klarna Pay in 30, Pay in 3 and their longer-term Klarna Financing credit. Why is this needed? Many people find Klarna just too easy to use too often. Spreading payments with no interest being added sounds so sensible, but it still means that you have less money next month because … [Read more...]
What to do if a creditor won’t freeze interest
What can you do if a creditor is still adding interest when they have been asked to stop? This can happen if you ask for a payment arrangement. It also sometimes happens, but more rarely, in a Debt Management Plan (DMP). Most creditors do freeze interest if you have supplied a reasonable Income & Expenditure Statement. If you are in a DMP, your DMP firm will have sent the creditor … [Read more...]