Debt News (Nov 2023)

Monthly Debt News looks at debts and the causes of debts in Britain from various sources selected for professionals to make the debt sector simple.

This month’s Debt News includes high rents pushing renters out of cities, one million universal credit claimants, a couple charged £18K without a gas bill, an angler refusing to pay a water bill due to sewage pollution, drivers successfully appealing all penalty charges in London, Santander warns borrowers over high-interest rates and defaults. And finally, bitesize stats to get an overview of the causes of debts in Britain.

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High rents and benefit cuts push poorer renters out of UK’s cities, report finds.

The social fabric of the UK’s biggest cities is being transformed by sky-high rents and cuts to housing benefits as thousands of low-income private renters are pushed out of central areas, accelerating the “suburbanisation” of poverty, according to a study.

More here: Link

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Almost one million Londoners are claiming Universal Credit, according to latest data from the Department for Work and Pensions.

In September, 977,966 Londoners were receiving Universal Credit, an increase of more than 30,000 people - or more than a 3% rise - since May.

More here: Link

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Tamworth couple charged £11k for gas after 18 years with no bill.

A couple who had not received a gas bill for 18 years were left in shock when they were sent an invoice for nearly £11,000.

More here: Link

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Angler refuses to pay bills in sewage protest

An angler from Lewes has joined a group of campaigners refusing to pay their bills to protest against water pollution. Mike Deacon has labelled Southern Water a "criminal organisation" after a series of illegal sewage spills. He is currently only paying £1 a month to the water company.

More here: Link

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Greenwich Council: Drivers succeed in every penalty charge notice appeal

Drivers appealing against penalty notices in a London borough were successful every time for more than a year, the BBC has found. Figures showed that, from July 2022 to September this year, Greenwich Council did not contest a single appeal - citing "no evidence" in every instance

More here: Link

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Bank Santander issues warning to everyone with a loan, mortgage and overdraft

High street lender Santander UK has cautioned that higher-for-longer interest rates are hitting householders - and urged people to keep an eye on their finances. The banking group said many people who have mortgages and personal loans were getting behind with payments - and said interest rates were the issue.

More here: Link

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(Oct 2023) - Debt Talk: The cost of fuel (Podcast)

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Bite Size stats:

Private renters on a median household income could expect to spend 26% of their income on a median-priced rented home in England, compared with 23% in Wales and 25% in Northern Ireland, in the financial year ending March 2022 (ONS)

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Fraudsters stole £580 million from British consumers and businesses in the first six months of 2023 (UK Finance)

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Growth in household debt levels accelerated from early 2016, so that the debt-to-income ratio rose again to 136.3% by mid-2017. In Q1 2023 it was 128.9% (Research Briefing - Parliament)

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There were 26,390 individual insolvencies in England and Wales in Q2 2023, 2,254 fewer than in the previous quarter. The largest increase since the current series began in 2010 was seen between Q2 2020 and Q3 2020 (Research Briefing - Parliament)

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(Sept 2023) - Debt Talk: DRO or IVA? That is the question...(Podcast)

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The End

A debt free path for a mental health sufferer

It’s a well-known fact that individuals who suffer from a hampered mental capacity - be it mental health or learning difficulties - are most likely to be vulnerable in our communities. They are also more likely to be victims of miss-sold products and services by companies, even though organisations that are providing financial products and services have a duty under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to take extra care towards these individuals. This is what the FCA has to say about vulnerable customers: ‘ The vulnerability of the customer, in particular where the firm understands the customer has some form of mental capacity limitation or reasonably suspects this to be so because the customer displays indications of some form of mental capacity limitation (see ■ CONC 2.10) But due to a culture of intensive selling to consumers, generated by employers placing and enforcing - often difficult and unrealistic - performance goals wh...

Betar Bangla radio’s Ripon Ray: How fashionista turned political activist and debt advisor

PUBLISHED: 09:02 13 March 2019 | UPDATED: 09:03 13 March 2019 Emma Bartholomew Ripon Ray: Picture: Rukya Khan Debt advisor and radio talk show host Ripon Ray tells Emma Bartholomew how he’s seeing more and more people who are unable to just pay the basic bills Ripon Ray: Picture: Nick De Marco Self-confessed “arty-farty creative” Ripon Ray originally set out to be a fashionista in life, when he “found his calling” and changed track to become an activist. He’d been studying at the London School of Fashion, but going on an anti-fascist protest “triggered a couple of things”. “I dumped my studies and went to Kingsley College where I was doing full-on activism, and organising protest marches,” he told the Gazette . “I loved it but I got kicked out of there because I was too much of an activist and I wasn’t focusing on my studies.” He knuckled under, bagged a history degree and started out in the charity sector as a housing advi...

Debt Talk: The welfare state, deficit budget and debt (podcast)

On this month's Debt Talk podcast, Ripon Ray explored: 'The welfare state, deficit budget & debt '. Trussell Trust, a network of food banks in the UK, gave out nearly 3 million emergency food parcels to people facing financial hardship, and it has noticed a 37% rise in accessing its service compared to the previous year. The question for this month's panellists is: have we moved away from support provided by the state and diverted to the third sector? To assist Debt Talk, panellists for this month were the following: Helen Barnard - policy director of Trussell Trust, explained the welfare state's history and purpose and how the UK has significantly shifted away from its initial cause. Food banks are now playing the state's role because the current welfare system is not providing sufficient support to meet the needs of vulnerable and low-income households. The trust is seeing people with disability and working people seeking help because the current social se...

Your Doctor Debt: Ripon Ray

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