Latest Debt News
The latest news on consumer debt:
July 2, 2009
Britain's mountain of debt continues to grow, with the average adult now owing 132% of their typical earnings.
Collectively, UK consumers owe £1.459 trillion, Credit Action revealed this week, equivalent to £30,480 per person.
Personal debt on credit cards, store cards, overdrafts, and unsecured loans is also on the rise, increasing to £4,860 per person during the month of May.
The pace at which ...
Debt mountain grows to £1.46 trillion
by David Masters
Government announces measures to tackle debt and protect consumers
by Kay Murchie
June 25, 2009
Consumers tempted to finance purchases on credit "have been scared into being responsible" by rising unemployment figures, a financial expert said this week.
Motley Fool director David Kuo said media reports of soaring unemployment have encouraged Brits to take a sensible approach towards finances.
People are "rightly concerned" to be worried about their jobs as one in ten people able to work are likely ...
Consumers “scared into being responsible”
by David Masters
June 18, 2009
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed that UK public sector borrowing has soared to the highest level since ONS records began over 15 years ago.
Public sector net borrowing reached a record level of £19.9 billion in May and has already hit £30.5 billion for this financial year - more than double the level seen at this juncture a year ...
Public borrowing soars to £20bn
by Kay Murchie
June 15, 2009
Two documentary-style short films released this week aim to educate young people on how to avoid the debt trap.
Produced by the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), the films were created in response to recent research highlighting the detrimental effect that debt worries have on the lives of young people.
The study by YouthNet found that a quarter of 16-24 year olds ...
Mental health of young people damaged by debt
by David Masters
June 11, 2009
One in five of the world's workforce are dipping into savings to pay off debt, a new study has revealed.
Over 20% of workers have raided the piggybank in the last year to lighten their burden of debt, whilst 13% have stopped saving entirely.
In the UK, China, the US, and India, savings have been shown the door as consumers struggle to maintain ...
Piggybank raiders headed for pensions crisis
by David Masters
Debt worries mounting with recession
by David Masters
June 1, 2009
Financial difficulties caused by the recession will drive up the number of consumers borrowing money from illegal lenders and loan sharks, the Money Advice Trust (MAT) warned this week.
Brits seeking a quick cash injection will be tempted by the lure of easy money that loan sharks appear to offer.
“It could be that someone is worried about not being able ...
Loan sharks set to profit from recession misery
by David Masters
May 27, 2009
Good deals on personal credit continue despite the credit crunch, research by Defaqto has discovered.
Although personal loan rates remain high, with the best interest rates available at around 8%, credit with 0% interest is available on overdrafts and credit cards.
Seven in ten (69%) credit cards offer a 0% introductory interest rate on balance transfers for an average of 9.7 months.
Virgin's ...
Credit crunch fails to dampen 0% credit
by David Masters
May 3, 2009
Individual insolvencies are at a record high with an average of 330 people going bust everyday, with the latest insolvency data for the first three months of 2009 showing a 19 percent year-on-year rise inclusive of Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) and bankruptcies.
KPMG has stated that 51 per cent of people entering into IVAs are homeowners, which is a 34 percent increase from ...
Insolvencies at a record high
by Peter Charalambous
April 16, 2009
With Alistair Darling’s April budget soon to be announced, the first thing that should be noted from next week’s budget is the announcement that public borrowing is set to reach £175 billion by 2011.
Many analysts have indicated that this deficit will be the worst since the Second World War.
The hole in public finances has been exacerbated by the government ...
UK borrowing to reach £175bn in 2 years
by Peter Charalambous
April 6, 2009
The latest figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows that the UK will need to raise an extra £39 billion a year for the next five years if the Government is going to balance the books by 2015.
This would mean that if the money was to be raised solely through an increase in taxation then the average household ...
UK public sector debt at record levels
by Peter Charalambous
March 26, 2009
British workers can today start reducing their personal debt as it will have taken them until yesterday to pay back the interest.
Personal debt is so high in Britain that it would take the whole country 83 working days - or 1st January to 25th March - just to fund the interest payments.
Total debt through credit cards, loans, ...
Britain needs 83 days to pay interest on debt
by David Masters
March 19, 2009
Over a quarter of people in the UK see paying off debt as their number one financial priority.
Research by Fairinvestment.co.uk found that 26% of Brits are making debt repayment the primary objective for any money they have left over at the end of the month.
Sharon Bratley, Fairinvestment.co.uk's chartered financial planner, said that paying off debts is sensible in the current ...
Spare cash redirected to pay off debts
by David Masters
March 17, 2009
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) is launching a new website to help Brits give their finances a health check.
According to the government-backed savings provider, 40% of people in the UK have no long-term financial plan, whilst nearly a fifth (17%) don't bother to look for advice on managing their money because they find it too confusion.
The Five Questions website is designed ...
NS&I launches financial health check website
by David Masters
Shift from borrowing to saving essential
by David Masters
March 8, 2009
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has shut down thirteen websites for misleading consumers.
The watchdog said these debt management companies, which have not been named, are using website addresses similar to non-profit organisations and are deliberately misleading customers.
Ray Watson, OFT credit director, said “We believe they are misleading consumers by holding themselves out as free advice agencies ...
OFT shuts down 13 debt advice websites for ‘misleading’ customers
by Kay Murchie
February 27, 2009
The average person seeking debt advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is nearly £17,000 in the red and would need 93 years to pay back the money at an affordable rate.
This is compared to an average debt of £10,600 in 2001, and CAB expects the situation to deteriorate further in the year ahead.
The most common reasons for debt are ...
Average debt needs 93 years to repay
by David Masters
February 6, 2009
Figures from the Insolvency Service have published some alarming news after it reported that company failures and personal bankruptcy has reached a record high for England and Wales.
In the last three months of 2008, there were 2,428 corporate insolvencies such as administrations and receiverships, according to the Insolvency Service. This represented an increase of 220% compared with the same ...
Downturn hits home as bankruptcies hit new high
by Kay Murchie
February 5, 2009
Almost one third of UK consumers use a credit card to pay for everyday items such as groceries, a Post Office survey has revealed.
The poll showed that 10 million British adults intend to use their credit cards to cover day-to-day living expenses during the first part of this year.
Meanwhile, 2.6 million people intend to spend more on their ...
One third of consumers pay everyday expenses on credit
by David Masters
