High cost credit news/policy Archives

High cost credit news and policy

Will an Amigo Scheme of Arrangement abandon vulnerable customers?

A whole book could be written about the different ways vulnerable customers can have problems with guarantor loans - I wrote about some of them in Guarantor loans – why guarantors & borrowers need extra protection. But here are a couple of very recent cases for illustration. Case 1 - mental health problems The borrower informed Amigo when he made an affordability complaint in September 2020 … [Read more...]

Amigo first Scheme – my estimated numbers don’t look good

This article relates to Amigo’s first Scheme, which was rejected in May 2021. See Amigo’s second Scheme for articles on the second Scheme. When Amigo announced it was seeking a Scheme of Arrangement on 21 December 2020, I said there were very few details and asked some questions. On 25 January more information about the Scheme was given. But there weren't any of the useful numbers I … [Read more...]

Amigo seeks refuge from refunds in a Scheme (December 2020)

UPDATES In May 2021 the court rejected the Amigo Scheme accepting the arguments of the FCA that it was not the fairest that could be proposed to customers. See Court rejects Amigo Scheme of Arrangement for details. In December 2021 Amigo published the proposals for its Second Scheme. See Amigo's new Scheme for the latest news. Amigo announced on 21 December 2020 that it is seeking … [Read more...]

Sunny – some loans written off & the rest sold to a debt collector

The administrators say people may be allowed to submit claims in November 2020, if sufficient funds are available in the Administration for a distribution to be made to unsecured creditors. The administrators will also explain then what people who have already submitted claims, or who had claims agreed but not paid when the company went under, need to do. But that "if" clause is important. The … [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...]

Payday lender Sunny heading for administration

UPDATE - Sunny went into administration on 29 June. See 500,000 Sunny customers owed refunds will get little or nothing for the latest news about what customers will get. And see Kerrigan v Elevate Credit – an “unfair relationship” for my thoughts on the court case Sunny lost, badly. Elevate Credit International Limited, which trades as Sunny, has filed a Notice of Intent to appoint … [Read more...]

Wageday Advance – administration now completed

Summary of the administration Curo Transatlantic Limited (Curo) had two brands: Wageday Advance (WDA), a mid-sized payday lender; and Juo Loans, a small guarantor lender. Curo entered administration on 26 February 2019 because of the number of payday loan affordability complaints they were receiving. They appointed KPMG as Administrators. The Administrators … [Read more...]

Wonga – administration ended, company dissolved

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 meant you had to get into more debt, by borrowing again or getting behind … [Read more...]

BrightHouse “close to collapse” because of increasing affordability complaints

UPDATE - BrightHouse went into administration on 20 March 2020. See BrightHouse enters administration – how does this affect customers? for details. On 29 February 2020, Sky News reported "Rent-to-own giant BrightHouse on brink of collapse". This said: there has been a "surge" of complaints which are currently costing BrightHouse more than £1million a month; management is worried … [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...]