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.

Consumer Experiences of Illegal Lending in the UK

Published 01 December 2017

This week the Financial Conduct Authority published a report detailing consumer experiences of illegal lending in the UK. The report highlights some of the experiences of ‘hard-to-reach’ consumers and the effects that illegal lending has had upon them.

Treasury Select Committee Announces Inquiry into Household Finances

Published 10 November 2017

Followers of Treasury Select Committee Chair, Nicky Morgan MP will have anticipated the announcement on 8th November that the TSC has launched a formal inquiry into household finances, honing in on income, savings and debt.

Our Pre-Conference Podcast — an early sighting (hearing) of the debates we’ll be having in Nottingham

Published 31 October 2017

As a curtain-raiser for CCTA Conference week, I was joined in the studio by two experts from the worlds of consumer advocacy and the law: Mick McAteer of The Financial Inclusion Centre and Nikki Worden of the law firm, Osborne Clarke. Nikki is a specialist in the regulation of financial services having previously worked at Addleshaw Goddard and in-house at MBNA for eleven years.

Where the Power Really Lies

Published 10 October 2017

On the credit card announcement, what was especially noticeable was that the substantive response came from the FCA, rather than Government Ministers.

The Dog that Finally Barked

Published 10 October 2017

One of the convenient things about having a Neo-Marxist opposition is that it makes the business of policy prediction a whole lot easier.  With New Labour, you could never be quite sure where its ‘triangulation’ would lead.  It mostly served up policies that were ‘Thatcher-lite’ in nature, whether on the economy or law or order and even foreign policy.

PCP: Are We Heading for a Major Crash?

Published 26 September 2017

Opinion and forecasts for the PCP market are proliferating at the moment as we hear from MP’s, consumer groups and the like, about the potential impact that the ‘debt crisis’ could have on the PCP market – especially as affordability criteria is tightened and interest rates are set to rise.