Another week, another lockdown..!

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Chris Warburton

This Saturday (Halloween of all days) it was announced that England would enter another lockdown for November… scary stuff… with cases rising and lockdown already in place elsewhere in the UK, for many this had felt inevitable, but here we are in lockdown again.

The FCA was very quick with their announcement for mortgage holders.

  • Everyone can still take advantage of a mortgage payment holiday up to 6 months.
  • For those that have already used the 6 months, further help is available from lenders (albeit most likely Credit Bureau impacting).

Full marks to the FCA for the speed of the announcement, and no doubt it will be a busy few days in many lenders this week. Expect more to come for the consumer credit side of businesses too.

The key announcement was the extension of the Furlough scheme – the existing scheme was due to end this week and with over 2 million people still on furlough, this will no doubt be a relief to many.

However, this will also have of further spreading the impact from COVID economic changes, for borrowers and lenders, moderating delinquency volumes… for now at least.

The banks had already been anticipating increased losses. Several released dramatic increases in provisions for bad debt this week, this is unlikely to change. Interestingly though in some areas profit was up, driven by an increase in lending from the mini-property boom we had post Lockdown I. We live in a topsy turvey time for sure.

Before all of this, the other big news was the ruling from the ICO, the UK’s information watchdog, that the Credit Reference Agencies (Experian in this case) needed to make changes on how they handle and process data. In particular this related to consent and transparency on how consumers information is used.

It sounds like changes have already been made and this will likely rumble through the process for a while. Marketing and acquisition processes, in particular, will be affected, although may see some in areas such as utilities, where a customer could refuse consent they still must provide service… one to watch.

Finally a couple of other stories of interest around the restructuring of the economy.

It is all change again… enjoy the rest of the weekend…. @chris_w_tweet

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Driving through lockdown

Posted on October 25, 2020 by Chris Warburton

The clocks went back this weekend, so woke up an hour earlier this morning (it felt), and darkness certainly descended an hour earlier tonight… time to put the fire on and a cup of cocoa I think…! Still, the observations from the week.

  • I have reached a new milestone in my longsightedness… finding I need to wear glasses to not only read, but also now see my food whilst eating… it caught me quite off guard, but I suppose I will get used to it..
  • Another food-related trend was drive through queues… they seem to have become huge, with cars trailing around the block for a simple take out… seems I am not alone in hankering after a sneaky fast food treat whilst lockdown restrictions are eased… it is the ‘COVID pounds rebound’ I fear!
  • Workwise, some more interesting discussions this week, with the topic of remote hiring, onboarding, training, and working coming up more and more… businesses are clearly now committing to and prepping for a more remote workforce longer-term… times really are changing.

Have a good week everyone… @chris_w_tweet

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Fake commutes and twinkies

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Chris Warburton

A few things caught my eye this week as we all wrestled with the fact that it is looking like lockdown will continue and we enter a second wave.

First, was the changing nature of work, and how it seems we are moving towards a more blended style of working.
A few days at home, a few in the office, seems increasingly common, with some people opting for long commutes from the countryside rather than permanent city centre living…. with rental prices declining in major cities… everything is linked.

When working from home, our typical commute time has been dramatically reduced… from about an hour to 5mins… if you really walk slowly!
This of course gives more time for work, however as the pandemic has lengthened so has the realisation that this time that can be grabbed back. Hence the rise of the fake commute…. a time to mentally change gears, separate home and work life and not to mention maybe get in a bit of exercise…. an interesting trend.

Elsewhere, story of challenges in the fintech sector continue. This week it was the turn of P2P lending, with customers struggling to withdraw invested money.
Investing in loans does of course have common complications in terms of waiting for end of term or replacement investors for money to be released… I suppose this is the advantage large banks and banking in general has… these are getting highlighted in times like these it feels.

An finally, my favourite story of the week, is about the indestructible twinkie, and how its gradual decomposition was new to science… I knew there was a reason I left them somewhere!

Have a good weekend eveyone…@chris_w_tweet

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