Industry Insights

As we enter 2023, there has been a discernible shift in the conversation around the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. Increasingly, the focus is on a subject we know all too well: household debt. From debt advice charity StepChange warning it will take years for Christmas borrowing to be repaid, to NatWest announcing it will extend the amount of time customers have …

Customers with existing credit (whether loans, credit cards or hire purchase deals) are frequently targeted with tempting promotions for 0% introductory deals or personal loans with lower APRs than they currently pay. Debt consolidation solutions can be hugely beneficial to some customers who struggle with their monthly debt repayments, a situation likely to worsen if the pressures on the cost-of-living …

Consumers in the UK are facing increasing financial pressure amidst the rising cost of living. Inflation hit 10.1% in the twelve months to January 2022, whilst the Bank of England raising base rates to 4.0% has significantly increased the cost of borrowing money. Unsurprisingly, people are feeling the impact, with our latest Consumer Pulse study showing three quarters of UK …

The price and value of regulated financial services products has long been in the FCA’s spotlight. The Consumer Duty is strengthening the FCA’s focus in this area. While the FCA already has powers to regulate certain aspects of pricing for financial products and services, its primary focus has been around consumer protection and market integrity. With its concurrent competition objective …

Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS) produced our Vulnerable Customer Exclusion report at the end of last year and it showed some frightening but not surprising statistics. We know from the FCA that around a quarter of the population consider themselves to be vulnerable and our report underlined that, but 10% of people deem themselves to be at risk of homelessness, eviction …

Illegal money lending has a devastating, traumatic and long-lasting impact on victims, families and wider communities. This is driven by the predatory behaviour of loan sharks, which involves significant levels of harassment, intimidation and violence. Ruthless loan sharks exploit people in desperate need of quick cash. They charge extortionate rates of interest and trap their victims in a cycle of …

Following Boris Johnson’s somewhat forced resignation in July, a new leadership contest for the Conservative party took place over the summer. Due to the current political system and the ways in which leaders are elected, this inevitably meant a change of Prime Minster and a new Government. Liz Truss MP, winner of the leadership contest became Prime Minister shortly after. …

It’s those two words again, isn’t it? Consumer Duty. Such innocuous sounding words, and ones that should feel like the natural thing to do for so many organisations and companies out there. But what do those words actually mean, and, crucially, how are they being interpreted? The premise is simple enough. There are three key elements; the Consumer Principle; Specific …

Earlier in the magazine we asked Lex Jones of the Registry Trust to talk a little more about the importance of the work that they do on county court judgments (CCJs). The CCTA is a strong supporter of their Get Satisfaction campaign to ensure that the judgments are kept up to date. When CCJs are satisfied it is important that …

The FCA’s new Consumer Duty is a vital aspect of the current regulatory regime. This is a significant regulatory intervention aimed at raising standards. The proposed new principle – ‘A firm must act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers’ and the associated cross-cutting rules represent a clear shift in approach and a significant raising of the bar across the …

In the last edition of our magazine, I spoke about some exciting plans to further develop our services as a trade association. This edition presents a good opportunity for me to update our members, both long-standing and those that have joined us recently, on those plans. In short, it has been a busy period for the CCTA team but our …

This year marks what could be a major revolution in UK consumer credit law, with HM Treasury (HMT) in June announcing planned reforms to the Consumer Credit Act (CCA). The CCA regulates all credit cards, personal loans and retail asset finance. The Government will move retained provisions in the CCA from statute to sit instead under the framework of the …