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Personal debt is currently at a record high, which means that more people will be consulting debt advisors or insolvency practitioners. In general, it’s the best possible thing to do in this situation — as long as you’ve chosen a reliable advisor. The Current Debt Crisis As I reported in a recent blog, personal debt is at its worst level since the height of the economic crisis following the 2008 crash. With income ha

The country has been so busy lately arguing over the future of the UK economy that some disturbing signs at ground level have been largely ignored. Personal insolvencies are at their highest level since the worst of the economic crisis, while figures suggest that a staggering proportion of households are operating on a financial knife-edge. So what’s gone wrong? The Income Crisis According to figures from R3, the ins

If you’re an SME owner who’s plagued with late-paying customers, you’re not alone. According to recent research by the Institute of Directors, almost half of all SMEs are in the same predicament. The Scale of the Problem Out of 787 business owners surveyed by the IoD, 48% reported having had problems with late payments since April 2017. Many cited “excessively bureaucratic” payment syste

Takeovers are a fact of business. They’re sometimes good for the customers of the companies involved, sometimes less so, but business never stands still. Debt collection is no exception, although it tends not to get the media attention given to media, engineering or major retail companies, and two significant takeovers have recently been announced in the sector. Two Recent Takeovers Cabot Credit Management, con

Every year brings new challenges and opportunities for businesses, but 2018 seems set to be even more challenging than usual. And it’s not just me who thinks so. PwC (Pricewaterhouse Coopers), one of the Big Four auditors, has set out six things for private businesses to look out for in 2018. Corporate Governance for Private Businesses The FRC is planning a big shake-up of the Corporate Governance Code. They’re curre

Following a report by accountant Teresa Graham, the rules for pre-packaged sales of insolvent businesses have been updated, and the oversight of the practices has been altered. Changes in the Statement of Insolvency Practice (SIP) were introduced on 1st October and 1st November 2015, while the pre-pack pool was introduced on 2nd November. Pre-Pack Insolvency Pre-pack insolvency is an approach to Administrations where

A bailiff (‘enforcement agent’) may visit your home if you don’t pay your debts, eg a Council Tax bill, parking fine, court fine, county court or family court judgment. This will happen if you ignore letters saying that bailiffs will be used. You might be arrested if you don’t pay criminal debts, eg fines or penalty notices. A bailiff may also visit your home for other reasons, eg to serve court documents or give not

What can’t you do online in 2015? Pay your bills (check), do the weekly shop (check), book a holiday (check), find romance (check, if you’re lucky!). But try settling a small dispute with another business and you’ll find that there is no simple form to complete on the laptop or smartphone during a few snatched minutes of downtime. Instead you will need to enter the antiquated – and often lengthy and confusing – world

There was good news on the economy in the government’s quarterly insolvency figures for April to June, published recently. Fewer companies are going out of business than at any time since late 2007, and the total number of individuals who became insolvent was at the lowest level since the third quarter of 2005. The statistics cover England and Wales and show that a decrease in compulsory liquidations was the main dri

Meet the permanent non-borrowers. They’re the businesses that won’t be borrowing money from external sources, such as the high street banks, to expand. You might argue that it’s one of the longer-lasting effects of the global crash. Whatever the cause, a majority of small and medium-sized enterprises now meet the definition of permanent non-borrowers (PNBs), according to the recently published BDRC Continental SME Fi