Many people have been mis-sold IVAs when they had a better (cheaper, quicker, less risky) debt option available. These other options were ignored or not properly described by some firms that should have given proper debt advice. IVAs are the only debt solution in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that generates large fees for the firms setting them up. These fees can distort debt advice given … [Read more...]
Articles for debt advisers
2022 – a very bad year for debt advice
This is my annual review, looking at the major events of 2022 for the debt advice sector and with some thoughts about 2023. It concentrates on the bits I was most interested in. As it's aimed at debt advisors and people interested in debt policy, I haven't explained terms and acronyms they will all know. A year of interlinked crises Inflation One of the first articles I wrote in 2022 year … [Read more...]
The new DRO hubs start in February – how will they work?
MaPS announced in November that it had signed contracts for debt services that will be effective from 1 February 2023. The two contracts for Debt Relief Order (DRO) hubs have been awarded to: Citizens Advice; and Gregory Pennington. There is a lot of uncertainty in the debt advice community about how these new DRO hubs will work in practice. With less than two months before they start, … [Read more...]
Personal Insolvency – the urgent need for change
The Insolvency Service issued a Call For Evidence (CfE) in July 2022, asking a wide range of questions about personal insolvency in England and Wales: The purpose of this document is to seek evidence that will help inform the Government on whether the current personal insolvency framework is still fit for purpose and, if not, what reforms are needed. The CfE started by saying: What should be … [Read more...]
Section 13A – a little-known way to get Council Tax written off
Councils in England and Wales can reduce or write off your council tax under Section 13A (1)(c) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. This has been called "the best-kept secret in council tax law". These Section 13A write-offs can be used if your house is uninhabitable because of flooding or fire. But you can also get a write-off if you have no money to pay your council tax after paying for … [Read more...]
Debt advice in an age of inflation
At the beginning of 2021, UK inflation was under 1% but by the end of the year it was about 5%. In May 2022, it was up to nearly 9%. More than 20 million household say their energy bills go up by over 50% in April. Petrol price increases are hard for anyone commuting to work by car or living in a rural area. And of course rising food prices are affecting everyone. When it raised UK interest … [Read more...]
Robo advice – can it deliver good quality debt advice?
"Robo advice" is being used increasingly to provide investment advice to people who can't afford individual advice from an IFA. Can a similar approach deliver good quality debt advice through an automated online process? Face-to-face advice is sometimes seen as both expensive and a process that not all clients may want or need. In this article I examine what robo debt advice can do well, the … [Read more...]
Why the FSCS doesn’t cover payday and other lenders
In 2018, when Wonga went into administration, people started asking isn't there some kind of guarantee system that would step in if Wonga fails? Won't the FSCS help? This has become more important every year since then, with most of the major payday lenders failing, including the Money Shop, QuickQuid, Sunny and Myjar. From 2020, other sorts of high cost lenders have also being failing, … [Read more...]
2021 – the Debt Camel review of the year
This is my review of the major events of 2021 in the debt sector. It doesn't go into detail about what happened, it mainly looks at how well the year went in practice and why bits of it didn't go better... Inevitably it concentrates on the areas that most interested me! And my ratings are just a bit of fun. I'll divide them into groups: FCA-related; Insolvency Service-related; external … [Read more...]
The 2021 IVA protocol – what has changed & will it stop mis-selling?
The IVA Protocol 2021 was published in April 2021. This replaces the old 2016 Protocol which should not be used for new IVAs after 1 August 2021. The terms of IVAs already in progress are not affected by the new version. The new Protocol aims to be easier to understand for people in debt - for example "debtor" has been replaced by "consumer" and it has been put into the typical "gov.uk … [Read more...]