Amigo Loans scheme to safeguard its survival approved by High Court

Britain’s largest guarantor lender Amigo Loans has been given the green light by the High Court to proceed with a scheme designed to cap the cost of compensation for mis-sold loans. Up to 1million current and past borrowers potentially given unaffordable loans as long ago as 2005 will now have until 12 May to vote … Read more

Visa to join Mastercard in hiking interchange fees for UK shoppers

Regulators should crack down on ‘profiteering’ from card companies as Visa hikes interchange fees for shoppers buying from the EU by 475% Visa is the UK’s largest card provider with an 84% share of the card market It appears to be joining Mastercard in raising interchange fees by up to 475% European merchants are billed … Read more

John Lewis and M&S launch buy now, pay later schemes

Some of Britain’s biggest high street names look to be developing their own in-house challengers to buy now, pay later services like Klarna as they try and muscle in on the booming £2.7billion sector. John Lewis has launched an online payment method in partnership with French bank BNP Paribas that will let customers borrow up … Read more

Balance transfer credit cards: Interest-free deals continue to increase

Balance transfer bounce back continues: Banks boost 0% terms after credit card availability hit an all-time low There are now 59 balance transfer deals and 56 purchase deals available  Although below pre-pandemic levels these are more than were around in 2020  Banks have increased their interest-free term lengths since the start of the year This … Read more

No-interest loan pilot from Treasury for hard-up borrowers

Treasury pledge to fund £3.8m no-interest loan pilot for hard-up borrowers ‘a step in the right direction’ say debt charities and lenders Scheme could help those who cannot afford to pay interest on loans  It is based on an Australian-style community lending scheme   Initiative was proposed by previous Chancellor Philip Hammond in 2018 As many … Read more

Loan gripes soar as families struggle to afford repayments in pandemic

Loan gripes soar during the pandemic as families struggle to afford repayments By Amelia Murray For The Daily Mail Published: 22:01 GMT, 2 March 2021 | Updated: 22:01 GMT, 2 March 2021 Complaints about loans soared last year as families struggled to afford repayments in the pandemic. Guarantor loans, which are typically taken out with … Read more

Ombudsman complaints: Guarantor loans replace PPI

Thousands of Britons are complaining to the Financial Ombudsman Service about being mis-sold unaffordable guarantor loans, new figures reveal, as Payment Protection Insurance was finally dethroned as the most complained about financial product. Complaints about PPI numbered 6,679, meaning it was not the most complained about product in a three-month period for the first time … Read more

Buy now pay later schemes are fastest-growing online payment method

Surge in internet credit buys: Buy now pay later deals were fastest-growing online payment method last year By Ben Wilkinson for the Daily Mail Published: 22:01 GMT, 23 February 2021 | Updated: 22:01 GMT, 23 February 2021 Credit boom: Buy now, pay later schemes  are predicted to account for 10 per cent of UK online spending … Read more

Can credit unions really solve Britain’s high cost credit shortage?

A company which began life in 1985 as a way for serving police officers to pool their Christmas savings might not sound like the ideal recipient a £200,000 prize aimed at developing a new generation of fintech lenders. Yet that is exactly what happened to Police Credit Union last March. The member owned co-operative, which … Read more

Buy now, pay later: Don’t let shoppers sign up by default, MPs say

Britain’s biggest retailers should take buy now, pay later services off their websites and prevent shoppers from signing up for debt financing at the checkout by default, MPs have said, after the £2.7billion industry was found to pose ‘significant’ potential harm to shoppers. A review into the booming sector published earlier in the week found … Read more