Debt

  • 25/11/2013

    Payday loans to be capped

    Plans for a new law to cap the cost of payday loans have been announced by the coalition government. The exact level of the cap has not yet been announced: it will be decided by the new industry regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. The cap will be included in the Banking Reform Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.
     
     Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said: 'We’re going to have a cap on the total cost of credit – we’re looking at the whole package, not just the interest fee, but also the arrangement fees as well as the penalty fees. This is all about having a banking system that works for hardworking people and making sure some of the absolutely outrageous fees and unacceptable practices are dealt with. It’s all about the government being on the side of hardworking people'.
     
     Source: Press release 25 November 2013, HM Treasury

    Subjects: Debt
    Category: News stories
  • 01/11/2013

    A million people to use payday loans for Xmas

    Over a million people admit they plan to use payday loans to cover the cost of Christmas spending this year, according to a new survey from the Money Advice Service.

    The research was carried out among 2,000 United Kingdom adults by One Poll in October 2013.

    Subjects: Debt, Families, Necessities
    Category: Reports
  • 02/10/2013

    Payday loans used to pay for food

    Nearly four out of five people who take out a payday loan do so in order to be able to buy food, a survey has found. The survey was conducted among over 1,500 clients of Christians Against Poverty, a Church-based national charity that tackles debt and money management problems.

    Subjects: Debt
    Category: Reports
  • 02/09/2013

    School-based financial education: will it make a difference?

    Julia Kukiewicz asks if school-based education will actually increase financial literacy and how much real help will it offer those struggling on low incomes.

    Subjects: Debt, Early intervention, Education, Financial exclusion
    Category: Articles
  • 22/07/2013

    Disabled people forced to use doorstep lenders

    Disabled people are having to make increasing use of doorstep loans, according to a survey carried out for the disability charity Scope. The survey found that one in ten disabled people have resorted to the loans, compared with just 3 per cent of the general population. 

    Subjects: Debt, Disability
    Category: Reports
  • 04/07/2013

    Alternative financial help in the crisis

    In principle, credit unions and time banks could have provided an alternative source of financial support during the crisis. But, as Dr Lee Gregory shows, that has not really happened.

    Subjects: Debt, Financial exclusion, Unemployment
    Category: Articles
  • 20/06/2013

    Money worries: 2013

    The Communities in Action (CiA) project identified debt and financial insecurity as a collective problem with profound impacts on family life and people’s health. Here you will find information on what is happening in households across many different communities and how local experiences fit with the wider picture in Northern Ireland.

     

     

    Subjects: Debt, Food poverty, Heating, Intra-household poverty, Northern Ireland
    Category:
  • 05/04/2013

    Low-income groups hit by Social Fund abolition

    People on low incomes needing emergency financial help are likely to be faced with a 'postcode lottery' of provision following the abolition of the Social Fund, according to a new study. The Centre for Responsible Credit warns some people will be forced to turn to commercial high-cost lenders as a result.

    The DWP-administered Social Fund – which provides community care grants, crisis loans for living expenses and budgeting loans – is being abolished from 1 April 2013, and the budget for the Fund is being devolved to local areas. Local councils in England, together with the Welsh and Scottish Governments, are now free to devise replacement schemes of their own using the money.

    Subjects: Debt, Government cuts, Low-income households
    Category: Reports
  • 28/01/2013

    Rising burden of household debt

    Nearly half of all households in Great Britain say the level of their financial debts constitutes a 'burden', according to a report from the Office for National Statistics. The report tracks changes in the position between 2006–2008 and 2008–2010.

     

    Subjects: Debt
    Category: Reports
  • 22/12/2012

    Household debt exposure at ‘worrying’ levels

    Millions of households on low to middle incomes are exposed to worryingly high levels of personal debt, according to a report from the Resolution Foundation think tank. These households face financial disaster unless they can pay off debts before interest rates go back to something more like their long-run levels.

    Subjects: Debt
    Category: Reports

Pages

Log in or register to post comments