Debt News (Oct 2024)

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

This month’s Debt News looks at a student who borrowed £44,000 and now owes £54,000, the plea to reduce the use of enforcement agents by Newcastle City Council, survivors of domestic abuse in debt, families blame two-child policy for being in poverty, rent arrears highest upon council tenants and a bankrupt council pledges to pay pensioners in winter. You can also find bite-sized national data to look at the causes of debts in the UK and catch on to August and September Debt Talk podcasts.

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NEWS

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'I got a £44,000 student loan - now I owe £54,000’

Here’s a maths problem for you. Adam borrowed £44,000 to go to university and has paid back £7,000 since graduating four years ago. How much does he owe?

The answer is £54,000.

More here: Link

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Bailiff use plea after 17,000 referrals in one year

A charity has urged a city's council bosses to cut down on using bailiffs for debt collection, after more than 17,000 referrals in one year.

Newcastle City Council referred 17,494 debts to bailiffs in 2022-23 – more than any other council in the North East.

More here: Link

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Survivors recount trauma of economic abuse

Two women have described how their lives were blighted by partners who used emotional abuse to extort money, eventually costing them their homes. Emma and Lucy - not their real names - said their partners had run up large debts during their time together and had coerced them into paying.

More here: Link

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Families 'on tight rope' blame two-child benefit cap

A dad who lost £1,200 a month in child benefit when his blended family moved in together said they were "one misfortune away from using foodbanks”.

Lewis Kirkbride is one of many low income parents urging the government to drop the two-child benefit limit introduced in 2015.

More here: Link

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Hundreds of millions owed in rental debts to councils and arrears on the rise, new data shows

Hundreds of millions of pounds are owed in rental debts to councils and arrears are on the rise, new data shows, as campaigners warn the shortfall will lead to a “crisis point” for councils.

More here: Link

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Debt ridden council pledges cash for pensioners

Thurrock Council, which has been effectively declared bankrupt and in need of government support, has pledged to help pensioners with their winter fuel payments.

The offer applied to elderly residents who received benefits but no longer received their winter fuel allowance from central government following the decision to means test the payments to save £1.4bn.

More here: Link

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(Sept 2024) - Debt Talk: Indebted in buy now pay later products (podcast)

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Bite Size stats

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London has one of the highest poverty rates in the country - with one in four Londoners living in poverty. Although poverty varies across the city, half of the boroughs also have higher levels of poverty than England as a whole.

In total, 16 out of 32 have higher levels of poverty than the England average. Only three have lower – Bromley, Merton and Richmond.

(Trust for London)

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Overall, we received 74,645 new complaints between April and June 2024. This is an increase of 70% compared to 43,953 reported in the same period the previous year. On average, across all financial products we upheld 37% of the cases we resolved this quarter in favour of the consumer. Credit cards were the most complained about product in the first three months of this financial year.

(Financial Ombudsman Service)

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Mortgage claims, orders, warrants and repossessions increased

Compared to the same quarter in 2023 mortgage possession claims increased from 3,991 to 5,343 (34%), orders from 2,529 to 3,395 (34%), warrants from 2,679 to 2,918 (9%) and repossessions by county court bailiffs from 660 to 854 (29%). (Gov UK)

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Landlord possession actions have all increased

When compared to the same quarter in 2023 landlord possession claims increased from 22,526 to 24,495 (9%), orders from 16,029 to 18,436 (15%), warrants from 9,957 to 11,172 (12%) and repossessions from 5,950 to 6,927 (16%). (Gov UK)

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(Aug 2024) - Debt Talk:Carers & benefit overpayment (Podcast)

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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...

Shame no more to talk about domestic abuse and money trouble!

Silence can be a deadly killer for women of domestic abuse and instead of just hindering their recovery it could lead to their fatality. According to the Office of National Statistics (2015), two women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner in a relationship. The definition of domestic abuse has been expanded in recent times by legislation: an incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading and violent behaviour, including sexual violence. Julia Oviedo, a victim and survivor of domestic abuse, shared her personal experience on ‘In Conversation with Ripon Ray…the Community Money Matters Show’ on Betar Bangla Radio. It may seem just another story to many listeners but for an individual to talk about such a personal experience requires bravery, confidence and the will to encourage other victims to come forward and share their experiences. In her case, it was physic...

Your Doctor Debt: Ripon Ray

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