Demsa

General update Retail sales appear to be falling as the rising cost-of-living bites. Volumes fell by 1.4% in March 2022 following a fall of 0.5% in February 2022. Food store sales volumes fell by 1.1% in March 2022 and have fallen each month since November 2021. Car fuel sales volumes fell by 3.8% in March 2022 with other data sources indicating that some non-essential road travel had been reduced following record high petrol and diesel prices. Figures from UK Finance… Read more

A surge in credit card borrowing to a record high last month has prompted concerns that low-income households are turning to expensive forms of lending to cope with rising costs of food, clothing and fuel. Figures from the Bank of England (BoE) showed credit card borrowing jumped by £1.5 billion in February 2002 to £59.5 billion in March 2022. This is the highest since records began in 1993 and is pushing the total amount of unsecured lending up by 90% on the prior… Read more

From the desk of Kevin Still General update Consumer confidence continues to fall as a sequence of ‘bad news’ stories hit consumers and small business, in many instances directly in their pocket and disruption in everyday lives. Rishi Sunak's wife having to pay UK tax on overseas income may mitigate this. This threatens to be another political sideshow. There appear to be an increasing number of trials of 4-day working weeks.  UK Finance recently reported that over 3,000 employees at… Read more

From the desk of Kevin Still In this week’s bulletin General update MaPS - Driving forward change to support those in need MaPS – call for evidence report - Access to debt advice during COVID-19 Digital engagement Payment Service Regulator – Annual Plan 2022/23 FOS – Ombudsman News 170 The Betting and Gaming Council join the ICO Sandbox Events General update We have seen headlines that ‘Energy websites crash in meter readings rush’. PayPlan and others have been encouraging consumers… Read more

In the bulletin today: FCA keynote at Credit Summit 2022 General Update StepChange 4-year plan Future of Open Banking Sale of Credit Kudos to Apple Operational Resilience and ESG Debt Resolution Strategies CSA Level 3 Debt Adviser apprenticeship scheme Events FCA keynote – ‘Supporting consumers through tough times’ Brian Corr, Interim Director of Retail Lending at the FCA, was upfront in the main hall at the Credit Summit and he reinforced a number of the key messages that we have… Read more