Concern Mounts on the Impact of Interest Rate Rises on Struggling Households

Published 16 February 2018

With the Bank of England expected to increase interest rates as early as May, what will be the impact of this on the UK’s financially constrained households? A report published this week by the Resolution Foundation[1] examines the possible consequences.

FCA roundtable discussion: ‘Approach to Authorisation’, 12 February 2018.

Published 13 February 2018

The CCTA’s Head of Legal & Regulatory Affairs, Graham Haxton-Bernard, attended the FCA roundtable meeting, which was was well attended by interested Trade Associations including representatives from the FLA and the CFA. The roundatable was hosted by various FCA staff including the Director of Authorisations.

Is the bubble bursting? Bitcoin falls amid global clampdown

Published 06 February 2018

As governments worldwide are nervously clamping down on investors speculating on cryptocurrencies, the value of Bitcoin fell to its lowest level since mid-November dropping below $6,000.  Lloyds and Virgin Money have now banned customers from purchasing cryptocurrencies with their credit cards amid concerns they could be exposed to large unaffordable debts should the digital currency value continue to fall.

CCTA Comment on the FCA’s update on its High Cost Credit review

Published 31 January 2018

We have seen a very significant concession from the FCA today. The regulator has acknowledged that ‘the provision of high cost credit can have a socially valuable function’ and that access to legal, regulated sources needs to be maintained.  This is music to the ears to hundreds of responsible, specialist lenders serving small local communities up and down the country.

Carmakers Finance Accelerates to Record Level

Published 19 January 2018

Last month Volkswagen Financial Services published provisional figures for 2017 which revealed their number of worldwide customer financial contracts is expected to rise by 5.2% to 6.85 million.

CCTA Commentary on today’s IFS Report

Published 16 January 2018

The CCTA welcomes the IFS report today, but we would guard against rash decisions on blunt instruments such as rate-capping suggested by some third parties. The ongoing dialogue and regulatory changes are resulting in meaningful solutions and positive outcomes for consumers. Further regulatory instruments and unwise intervention would mean reduced access credit and increased cost of credit.

Personal debt crisis will not be solved by curbing credit: CCTA commentary (Telegraph 11 January 2018)

Published 11 January 2018

The simplistic view of John McDonnell and others is credit equals debt, therefore get rid of the credit industry and you get rid of debt. Her Majesty’s Opposition is very clear that Britain is in the grip of a personal debt crisis.

FCA insight finds consumer credit growth is not driven by ‘subprime’ borrowers

Published 11 January 2018

Until recently, many regulators have relied on aggregated data from larger lenders to monitor which lenders and products are driving credit growth. However, this data doesn’t include use of short-term high cost credit and non-mainstream products that many people with low incomes rely on. It also doesn’t show overall debts across different lenders and products.

310,000 Households Nationally are Borrowing from Loan Sharks*

Published 21 December 2017

We applaud that Credit Unions are continuing to help raise awareness of anti-loan shark campaigns, as the need for access to affordable, regulated credit remains more vital than ever.

Retailers battle low consumer confidence at Christmas

Published 20 December 2017

As Christmas consumer spending heads towards its final hurdle, retailers will no doubt be hoping for a continuance of the slight uplift in sales as reported by the Office of National Statistics last week. Earlier this year, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG reported like-for-like sales across the sector rose by a “meagre” 0.

2018: What’s on the horizon?

Published 06 December 2017

As we approach 2018 – and with it GDPR – we wanted to share the foresight of Mike Bradford from Regulatory Strategies Ltd, who has drawn up what he sees from clients as being ‘front of mind’ and what we consider to be the likely trends for next year.

FCA investigates Moneybarn

Published 05 December 2017

The Times has reported today that the FCA is investigating the car finance division of Provident Financial – Times commentary is below.  This should be a clarion call to all non standard HP providers to double check their credit worthiness and affordability checks.