Page 36 - Londra Gazete Sayı 1104

Londra Gazete, 05 May 2022 LondraGazete.com/English 5

University student complaints over courses hit record

COMPLAINTS from stu- demic "some students found ly prepared substitute teachers
dents in England and Wales that they weren't getting the and key experts in their field
about their university courses learning experiences that they leaving the university.
reached a record high last year. reasonably expected" said the One case that resulted in just
More than a third of the OIA. over £68,000 worth of com-
2,763 complaints to the Office It said this explained in part pensation, the highest figure
of the Independent Adjudica- why the total number of com- that was awarded, the report
tor (OIA) were related to the plaints submitted in 2021 was said.
impact of pandemic. 6% higher than the year be- But other students found the
The amount of compensa- fore. move to remote education had
tion given to students exceed- Some students complained made learning easier, with dis-
ed £1.3m, it said. about being unable to access abled students benefiting in
A report suggested that in-person facilities like lab- particular.
staffing issues, industrial ac- oratories, while others were "Students told us that they
tion, and delays in submitting unable to pursue their studies valued having more control
complaints from 2020 were abroad. over how and when they could
behind the high figures. Many complained about access their learning experi-
As a result of the Covid pan- staffing issues, including poor- ence," the OIA said.

Households ‘borrowing more but unwilling

to touch savings’

HOUSEHOLDS borrowing us-
ing consumer credit increased in
March at the fastest annual pace
since before the UK’s coronavirus
lockdowns started.
Millions of homes pushed into ing on more debt, there were also
However, while some were tak-
higher stamp duty brackets signs that households were un-
willing to touch savings built up
during the coronavirus pandemic.
MORE than four million homes Stamp duty applies in England The annual growth rate for con-
have been catapulted into high- and Northern Ireland. In Wales, sumer credit borrowing picked
er stamp duty or equivalent tax the land transaction tax (LTT) up to 5.2% in March, from 4.5%
brackets during the Covid pan- has replaced stamp duty and in in February, marking the highest
demic due to rising house pric- Scotland the land and buildings annual rate since February 2020, average of £5.5 billion in the year still the highest figure since
es, according to the latest expert transaction tax (LBTT) is applied according to Bank of England fig- leading up to the first UK lock- 52,100 re-mortgage loans in Feb-
analysis. to property purchases. ures. downs. ruary 2020.
Some 4.3 million homes have Around 1.5 million more prop- Consumer credit includes forms There were also around 70,700 UK non-financial businesses
been pushed into a higher brack- erties across Britain are sub- of borrowing such as credit cards, mortgage approvals made to borrowed £1.2 billion from banks
personal loans, car dealership fi-
et in the UK over the past two ject to those taxes compared to nance and overdrafts. home-buyers in March, a total in March, including overdrafts,
years, according to the property March 2020, according to Zoo- Within the latest annual in- which the Bank of England said on a net basis, compared with
website Zoopla. pla, with 3.5 million homes in crease, credit card borrowing was “little changed” and above £3.8 billion in February.
the pre-pandemic average.
Within this, small and medi-
It means prospective buyers England and Northern Ireland increased by 10.6%, the Bank’s Approvals for re-mortgaging, um-sized non-financial business-
end up paying more in taxes to having moved up into a higher Money and Credit report said. which only capture home loans es (SMEs) made a net repayment.
move home, with the average stamp duty threshold. A further Households also deposited £6 taken out with a different lender, The net loan repayment by SMEs
UK house price having increased 815,000 properties have moved billion into banks, building socie- rose slightly to 48,800 in March. in March marked the 13th month
by around £29,000 to £249,700 over property tax thresholds in ties and NS&I accounts in March. This total remained below the in a row of net repayments, the
since the pandemic began. Scotland and Wales. This was higher than a monthly pre-pandemic average, but was Bank said.

Klarna shopping habits will affect credit score

BUY-NOW- PAY-LATER firm fuelled fears it encourages peo- From the beginning of June,
Klarna will start reporting cus- ple into debt. it will also report customer use
tomer use of its products to From 1 June, if a custom- of its Pay in 3 (instalments) and
credit agencies which could af- er makes Klarna payments on Pay in 30 (days) products.
fect their credit ratings. time, that could have a positive At present, Klarna customers
The firm said the move could effect on their credit rating. who fall behind on payments
help or hinder customers' abili- However, if they fall behind when using these products can
ty to get credit for loans such as with repayments, that could be referred to debt collection
mortgages. make it more difficult for them agencies, but the firm said this
Klarna will start sharing the to get credit. does not affect their credit rat-
data from 1 June, with banks Klarna already reports the use ing.
and credit card firms able to see of one of its products, Klarna Fi- However, this will change from
customers' transactions when nancing, which is for larger pur- 1 June, and how prompt people
conducting checks. chases with repayments over six are at repaying those debts will
A buy now, pay later boom has to 36 months. be noted on their credit file.