news
Stamp duty holiday ending
July 28, 2021By Sally Stone As a result of the slump in the housing market due to the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic in March 2020, the Government introduced an incentive to boost the market again – the Stamp Duty holiday. This came into effect on 8th July 2020 and was initially set to end 31St March […]
Amigo scheme of arrangement thrown out by High Court
June 10, 2021A scheme proposed by Amigo Loans to cap compensation payments for cases of mis-selling to nearly a million current and former customers has been thrown out by the High Court. Customers who are successful with their complaints to the financial ombudsman usually receive redress which leaves them no better or worse off financially than if […]
Changes to Eligibility Criteria for Debt Relief Orders
May 12, 2021By Eden 12th May 2021 Debt relief orders were introduced in 2009 with the aim to provide debt relief for those with a relatively low level of unmanageable debt, no assets and little to no disposable income. The order freezes your debt repayments and interest for 12 months. If your financial situation hasn’t changed at […]
FCA examine overdraft charges
November 4, 2016By Lucy Palmer-Richeson The city watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced it will launch an investigation to look at hefty fees on overdrafts and loans, despite a competition watchdog rejecting the idea earlier this year. The FCA claims that customers are being charged excessive fees on overdrafts, sometimes as much as £100 per […]
New survey finds young people are in a lot of debt
September 2, 2016By Lucy Palmer-Richerson Millions of 18-24 year olds have significant debts and are worried about their financial situation, according to a new survey carried out for the Money Advice Trust by YouGov. According to the survey of 2,042 people aged between18 and 24, as many as 37% are already in debt and owe an average […]
Value of Wages Leads to 1.6 Million Brits Living in Debt
August 31, 2016By Lucy Palmer-Richeson. A new report has revealed that nearly 1.6 million households in the UK are living in extreme debt, due to a collapse in the real value of wages. The joint report by the TUC and Unison says that unsecured debt, such as loans and credit cards, but excluding mortgages, has climbed from […]
Mobile customers paying more than necessary for contracts
April 6, 2016By Lucy Palmer-Richeson Mobile phone providers have been accused of advising customers to take a contract that costs more than twice what they could be paying for their usage needs. The accusation comes after Citizens Advice carried out a mystery shop on the UK’s leading mobile phone providers and found that there were huge variations […]
Universal Credit Not Living up to it’s Promise
February 10, 2016By Lucy Palmer-Richeson A new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think-tank has shown that Universal Credit is failing to live up to its promise and that working families are now worse off since the benefit was introduced. Universal Credit, the government’s new welfare programme that will combine six benefits into one monthly payment, […]
SSE announces gas price cut
February 1, 2016By Lucy Palmer-Richeson A second gas company has made a cut in its prices following E.ON’s recent decision to lower its rates after a report by the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) found in February 2015 that giant gas companies were overcharging their customers. SSE, formally known as Scottish and Southern and one of the […]
Advertising Watchdog Clamps Down on Misleading Ads
January 26, 2016By Lucy Palmer-Richeson. The ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) is set to crack down on misleading broadband advertisements after joint research with Ofcom found that the majority of people are unsure how much they are supposed to pay after watching an ad, and that the ads were likely to “confuse and mislead” people. The ASA will […]
