Compensation Scheme Limit Increases Due to Financial Uncertainty

Personal finance and financial services are hurtling into the future at a ferocious pace. Google is the latest tech giant looking to take another sideways step into fintech, via a new collaboration with Citigroup. At some point during 2020, it’s rumoured that Google is planning to begin offering the capability to access current accounts through Google Pay. In theory this presents the ability to view and manage your bank account using a Google app – something not previously possible.

An overdraft can either be a financial lifeline, or something of a millstone. Which side of that fence you fall probably depends on how much of that usage is pre-planned.

Switching current account providers is incredibly easy these days – and I can vouch for that from recent personal experience. But experiencing the process first hand has also served as a reminder that it’s not completely flawless and that if you don’t pay attention, your Credit Rating could take a hit – even if it’s a temporary one.

Professor Edward Altman first published the Altman Z-score formula in 1968 to evaluate the likelihood of a businesses going bust within two years. The legacy of this system lives on, with the fundamental basics of his score helping to shape the Credit Scoring systems we use today - whether that’s a simple application for car finance or assessing the economic strength of an entire nation.

Let’s be honest, we almost all know someone who has claimed for PPI. You may have even done it yourself. If you aren’t aware of anyone you know claiming for PPI, you would still know of its existence, as the adverts for claims firms seem to populate every TV channel and radio station with advertising space.

Banks have been warned that they must start to do more to tackle scams where people are tricked into transferring money to a fraudster’s account. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has stated this in a response to a “super complaint” lodged by the consumer group Which? but the Regulator did stop short of suggesting that the banks should compensate customers who had lost out.

Signalling a return to strength and in the organisation’s first acquisition since the 2008 global financial crisis when they purchased HBOS, Lloyds Bank is to buy credit card firm MBNA from Bank of America in a £1.9bn deal.

Mobile bank provider Atom are launching the UK’s first mobile mortgage app. Applications for a mortgage often involve mountains of paperwork and Atom’s mortgage app is designed at reducing the volume of paperwork that applicants have to gather when applying for a mortgage.

The Lloyds Banking Groups is set to cut a further 665 jobs and close a further 49 branches as part of its continuing drive to cut costs.

In the wake of a crackdown from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the payday lending industry has drastically contracted, represented by a near 70% reduction in overall lending. To draw upon Russell Hamblin-Boone of the Consumer Finance Association, a mere 1.8m short term loans were issued over the course of 2015, compared to 10m in 2012.