Fraudsters have ripped off the government’s flagship Universal Credit benefit scheme for an estimated £20 million by making bogus applications. But, worse still, their fake claims were matched up to real benefits claimants who have found themselves thousands of pounds in debt through no fault of their own. Loophole The scammers have been taking advantage …
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The cost of childcare over the school summer holidays is driving families into debt and is particularly difficult for those on Universal Credit says a new report by Save The Children. The charity says parents are being driven into debt as their childcare costs soar when their children are off school. Up to £800 a …
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Thousands of vulnerable borrowers are being pushed into high cost debt through the use of ‘credit builder’ credit cards claims the debt charity StepChange. The cards are designed to help people with poor credit scores, but many of them are being used to pay everyday living costs. Sub-prime cards Officially known as sub-prime cards, they …
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MPs have slammed the proposed roll-out of Universal Credit, saying thousands of claimants could be pushed into debt or made homeless if problems aren’t fixed. The controversial scheme has been designed to replace six existing benefits – Job Seeker’s Allowance, housing benefit, children’s tax credit, working tax credit, income support and employment and support allowance …
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Millions of Britons are sitting on top of a ‘social care financial time bomb’ which could drain their life savings and leave nothing for their children to inherit. A new report from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) says 8 in 10 people over 65 have made no plans about how they will pay for …
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Southern Water has been hit with a record penalty for ‘shocking’ failures in the way it carried out its business between 2010 and 2017. Ofwat has fined the business £3 million and ordered it to repay £123 million in charges to its customers. Rebate The penalty – which is a record for the size of …
The Money Shop has come the latest payday lender to go out of business with a potential 430 redundancies. In a letter to staff the firm said: “The proposal to make collective redundancies is considered appropriate due to the poor financial performance of Instant Cash Loans Ltd (ICL). Customer complaints “This is a result of …
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Citizens Advice are warning that thousands of households are at risk of being hounded by ‘aggressive’ debt collectors chasing money owed to 11 small energy suppliers who have all gone bust in the past year and a half. In a new report entitled ‘Picking Up The Pieces’ the charity says that 32,000 households in debt …
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New figures have revealed a record 2.9 million British children are living in poverty even though their parents are working. A number of separate reports into poverty inn recent weeks have confirmed that it is on the rise with 70% of poor children coming from families where at least one parent is in work and …
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Millions of taxpayers have been hit by a tax scam epidemic over the past three years and the number of attempts is still growing. Responding to a Freedom of Information request, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have revealed there have been more than 2.6 million attempted frauds over the last three years by conmen claiming …