Demsa

General update We are approaching Debt Awareness Week from Monday 21 March 2022. I have seen a number of supportive posts in the lead up. Debt Awareness Week is the StepChange annual campaign that aims to put problem debt and debt advice on the agenda. Hugely topical at the moment as the bulletin will reflect from a number of angles. Link: https://www.stepchange.org/partner-with-us/supporting-debt-awareness-week.aspx   The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 8:1 to increase interest rates for the third time in four… Read more

General update Another week dominated by events in Ukraine and the wider impacts of the war and sanctions. Chris Warburton provided a fairly grounded article on this earlier in the week and the potential impact on collections and debt management. I am also hoping that Chris can discuss the survey around engagement methods in collections when the data is all collated. Link: https://www.ro-ar.com/finding-the-energy/   Link: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chriswarburton_found-this-data-with-all-the-talk-on-digital-activity-6906574402625110016-TWtN?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web UK Finance has published data & research (attached) on household finances. This quarterly commentary… Read more

From the desk of Kevin Still In today’s bulletin IVA annual statistics review Breathing Space update by Peter Tutton of StepChange CP21/34 – AR regime – DEMSA response FCA impose fee caps on CMCs Open Banking case study Events – DEMSA speaking at Credit Summit ICO guidance on Ransomware Article by Peter Wordsworth on annual IVA statistics My thanks to Peter for circulating his article on the StepChange IVA statistics (i.e. termination and completion rates) aligned to the government annual… Read more

From the desk of Kevin Still In today’s bulletin General update MaPS debt advice trends in 2022 MaPS Financial Wellbeing Barometer Creditfix response to CP21/30 – Debt Packagers MAT response to the FCA Consumer Duty ISO 22458 update ISO 27001 – IE accreditation Breathing Space update - newsletter Digital debt resolution AML – IPA 2022 checklist Cyber-attacks Event feedback General update Events in Ukraine and the cost-of-living increases in the UK have been dominating the headlines. The Money Charity February… Read more

From the desk of Kevin Still General update There has been a lot of coverage in the last week around low-income households not taking advantage of social tariffs, which extends to broadband tariffs. IE Hub and others have been drawing attention to this, which DEMSA actively encourages. According to Ofcom, millions of low-income families are missing out on a £144 annual broadband saving. This is intended to apply to 4.2m households claiming universal credit, but only 55,000 have applied. Another… Read more

From the desk of Kevin Still General update The number of customers in arrears with their mortgages continued to fall in Q4 2021 despite the pandemic and the Chancellor schemes closing in September 2021. Possessions fell in the final 3 months of 2021, following a year of increases from a low base, helped by an industry moratorium on possessions over the festive period. Overall, there were 79,620 homeowner mortgages in arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance at… Read more