PODCAST

They discuss the themes that have emerged from their respective podcasts, what that says about the state of the nation, some practical steps that we can all take to make improvements, and their predictions for the year ahead.

Their conversation highlights the improvements the NHS is making to responsibly collect debt, identifying vulnerabilities and the need for better technology and data.

Steve and Deven discuss how Policy in Practice is trying to move the needle on the issue, why the issue exists and why those working in the financial services and collections and recoveries industries should care.

Through campaigning by the Registry Trust, Steve became aware of an issue relating to a lack of claimant data for England and Wales - the name of the person or organisation that files the county court judgement (CCJ) against the indebted person or business. Currently their name does not have to appear on the CCJ, so the database is incomplete, leading to difficulty in paying down CCJs, added stress, and a high volume of unnecessary calls to both the courts and the Registry Trust.

That campaign led to a commitment by the Ministry of Justice to run a public consultation on this matter, which in government terms is the first step to making a change - so a huge win for the Registry Trust!

Steve took the opportunity to ask Mark what it is about the industry that keeps him awake at night and he spoke about the four issues that he's concerned about – the lack of a code of practice, the language used around debt, encouraging people to access free debt advice through Money Mentors, and personal responsibility regarding debt.

They discussed the enforcement industry, past then present. Their conversation highlighted the importance of making sure that the industry hears the voice of the front line, the enforcement agents themselves, as well as challenges in the procurement process, and the potential impact of the Enforcement Conduct Board.

Muna shares some interesting statistics and highlights the severity of the ethnicity premium. Their discussion raises the need for greater accuracy in data and further research into how ethnicity can affect the cost of necessities, such as insurance. Even more so as the last census showed that about 1 in 5 people in England and Wales are from a black, asian, mixed or other non-white backgrounds. Under the consumer duty, deepening our knowledge of diverse ethnic communities will be critical to achieving good customer outcomes.

Further to this, collaboration between specialist advice agencies, financial institutions, collections and recoveries and the regulators could lead to lower costs and better debt outcomes for all.

They discuss the overlap and similarities in business and personal debt, both involve people, their behaviours, attitudes, and biases. As business debt is managed by people it is possible to handle both similarly as people can choose to manage their business finances just as they manage their personal finances.

The conversation also raises questions such as – What can be done to help people manage better personally and professionally? How can we educate people about money and debt? Should payment terms be standardised further? How can businesses use Know Your Customer to help deal with their debtors?

Coincidently in the week just before Mantas Daujotas is sentenced to four and a half years in prison for having illegally lent about £2m, making a profit of £450k.

This is a complex topic that lives in the grey area of where we draw the line on sub-prime lending. On the one hand, Jason Wassell, Chief Exec of the Consumer Credit Trade Association argues that shrinking the market leads to financial exclusion, while Mick McAteer of the Financial Inclusion Centre takes the view that improved regulation has protected people from unaffordable products.

Also around this time, Fair4All Finance publishes a report into loan sharks and is looking to convene cross-sector, cross-party support to create a credit market that supports everyone, presumably to fill the gap between Jason & Mick’s viewpoints. Free training is available from the Illegal Money lending team, just call 0300 555 22 22 and ask for Cath or go to stoploansharks.co.uk and use the live chat.

Numeracy was identified by the FCA as one of the risk factors for consumers of financial services that should be addressed in attempts to recognise consumer vulnerability.

In fact, nearly half of the working-age population in the UK has the expected numeracy level of a primary school child. The FCA also found that 34% of adults in the UK have poor - to - low levels of numeracy involving financial concepts.

With Consumer Duty placing an onus on firms to communicate information as simply as possible – what can be done to ensure customers can understand financial concepts and communicate with numbers confidently?

In this snippet, they share their predictions for the debt industry's upcoming challenges and opportunities for 2024!