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Years ago I used to attend meetings hosted by the Finance and Leasing Association at which all sorts of issues were discussed regarding the finance industry with a special interest in fraud. Eventually they stopped inviting me, probably because I have a big mouth and am never frightened to open it. This doesn’t make me a lot of friends when I believe Read more »

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Been a busy week for me this week, had a board meeting of the NACFB, of which I’m a director on Tuesday 28^th followed by a lovely dinner, hosted by an old friend of the association, Bob Lefroy, editor of Business Money. This all took place at the Birmingham NEC Hilton Metropole and what a hotel that is. Amazing in size and activity. Add in a Neil Read more »

Last week I reported on the shambles known as the EU Consumer Credit Directive that would, without doubt, cause widespread confusion amongst consumers and small businesses (who were included in the Consumer Credit Act but not in the CCD). Trying to get the message across to customers in dealerships would result in the blind leading the blind Read more »

Insurance premiums are being secretly increased by the application of admin fees according to research firm Defaqto. In 2004 the admin charge on an insurance policy was 2% of premium but that has now increased to 7% in 2010. The insurance industry, like the finance industry, has realised that people ignore the terms and conditions attached to contracts and simply focus on the lowest rate so they use stealth measures to increase the return without touching the premiums. Mike Powell, Read more »

The motor finance industry was to see a potential new broker association being formed that would concentrate on providing benefits to consumers and small business  operating predominantly in the retail sector. The NACFB (National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers) offered their support to any such initiative but when this came to my notice, as an ex director and president of the association, I saw a huge potential for the association and immediately got to work with the chief Read more »

One of the last meetings I attended at which we discussed the state of the motor finance industry, we were told by one of the leading accountancy practices in the UK along with a couple of large leasing operations that the biggest problem faced by the industry was lack of liquidity or in other words lack of money to lend to you and me. This has been confirmed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Read more »

On the 14^th September I attended a meeting of the good and great in the vehicle finance industry at the London offices of Grant Thornton. The purpose was to debate the challenges of the industry which would be reported in the journal of the industry, Motor Finance. There were many conflicting views but the bottom line is that we are still in for a tough time. Clearly there is a lack of liquidity in the vehicle finance Read more »

The car and car finance industry is full of opinionated people who haven’t a clue as to what they are talking about. So called experts guess and make assumptions without any real knowledge on the subject. About now you will see national newspapers, radio and TV reporters telling you to shop around for finance before the launch of the new 60 registration, ignore dealer HP and find yourself a cheap personal loan, Read more »

As most of you know the mortgage and financial services industry are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), for the time being at least until the new structure, as announced by the Chancellor, takes over fully in 2012. Cases of fraud are dealt with by both the FSA and the Office of Fair Trading(OFT) in conjunction with the police. However, whilst the OFT keeps a watching brief over the activities of those Read more »

For those that like to own their vehicles and have a penchant for hire purchase there is some good news, you can now receive treatment for this condition, known as ‘bonkers’, on the NHS. OK serious stuff. I reported last year that the EU had issued a directive that meant that, amongst other things, the ability to voluntarily terminate your agreement once 50% of the full cost has been repaid would no longer apply to Read more »