TransUnion announced on 9 February that it can now take data from Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) lenders. Some BNPL debts will start to appear on consumer credit reports such as Credit Karma from summer 2022. UPDATE: In early May it was announced that Klarna will update TransUnion and Experian records from the start of June 2022. But the loans won't be included in credit scores for 18 … [Read more...]
General debt news & policy
Here are my articles on news and policy except for high cost credit and Insolvency, which are separate as there as so many of them.
Scarcity – why people in debt need a breathing space
Scarcity: Why having too little means so much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir is a very interesting read for anyone interested in personal debt advice and policy in Britain. Scarcity doesn't just mean lack of money Having less than you need - scarcity - warps your decision making in similar ways whatever you are short of, whether that is money, or time, or if you are on a strict diet or … [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...]
Bank accounts for all sorts of bad credit problems, even bankruptcy
In 2016 the major UK banks all introduced new "basic bank accounts". One of the main aims was to widen bank account access to groups of people who have found it difficult or impossible to open an account: people who have gone bankrupt previously found it very hard to get a bank account; people in an IVA, DRO or debt management need to change bank accounts and have the overdraft on their … [Read more...]
ClearScore adopts the new Equifax credit scoring out of 1000
In mid November 2021, ClearScore has finally adopted the new 1000 Equifax credit scores. Equifax credit scoring changed in April 2021, when it switched to calculating scores out of 1000 - they used to be calculated out of 700. It also changed the bands used to describe your credit rating. Equifax didn't make an announcement about these changes. The Equifax Credit Report & Score was … [Read more...]
How much must you earn to replace the £20 UC cut?
The government wants people to work more to replace the £20 Universal Credit (UC) cut coming up in October. If you would like a simple guide to UC, written by people who are "experts by experience", check out Universal Credit: A guide by claimants, for claimants. Many people would love to earn more but can't get the hours. Others can't work for health reasons or caring … [Read more...]
Will the new Enforcement Conduct Authority bring bailiff reform?
In 2020, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) brought together the debt advice sector and the bailiff industry to form the Enforcement Oversight Working Group. This group has co-authored a report called Taking Control for Good - introducing the Enforcement Conduct Authority, published on 25 July by the CSJ. In place of the current system of bailiff self-regulation, the report recommends the … [Read more...]
Chief Ombudsman Caroline Wayman resigns
Caroline Wayman, the Chief Ombudsman and CEO at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has resigned, announcing on 10 March 2021 on LinkedIn that: After 22 years at the service and nearly 7 years as chief executive and chief ombudsman I am stepping down from the role. Her resignation comes the day after a highly critical article in the Daily Mail which pointed out: Fraud victims and cheated … [Read more...]
FCA to look into unregulated credit such as Klarna & Wagestream
On 16 September, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a review into unsecured credit market regulation. This will be chaired by Christopher Woolard, the outgoing interim Chief Executive, which suggests how seriously the FCA sees this subject. The FCA says: The Review will concentrate on how regulation can better support a healthy unsecured lending market. It will take into … [Read more...]
Credit card minimum payments – developments from 2000 to 2019
This is a guest post from The Money Charity, the UK's financial capability charity. If you would like to receive its monthly statistical report The Money Statistics, sign up here. This paper was written as background research for The Money Charity’s responses to the Financial Conduct Authority consultations on the short term credit market. As a reference document it may be of interest to … [Read more...]