Bank of England figures for May show an increase in consumer debt, with new unsecured borrowing £732m higher than repayments. This represents a substantial increase from the average of the past six months of £403m. Borrowing through loans and overdrafts increased sharply in May according to the Bank’s figures. However credit card borrowing increased by [...]
Brits don’t consider themselves in serious debt until they owe more than £14,416 according to insurance company Bright Grey. Although this may sound excessive, it reflect a significant improvement from a year ago when £15,837 was the point at which people started to consider them themselves in serious financial difficulty. Bright Grey’s ‘financial safety net’ [...]
National money education charity Credit Action today revealed that one person is declared insolvent or bankrupt every 60 seconds during the working week. Based on statistics gathered in the third quarter of 2011, the charity estimates that 331 people are made insolvent or bankrupt every working day and 101 properties are repossessed every day. The [...]
New government legislation on credit card debt does not go nearly far enough, the director of a financial management charity has claimed. Chris Tapp, director of Credit Action, said new laws that stop credit card providers increasing interest rates and limits on credit cards are merely “a baby step in the right direction”. Prime Minister [...]
The stranglehold of debt on UK consumers is likely to continue for a “long time”, an industry expert has claimed. Chris Tapp, director of Credit Action, said the financial crisis has left a rising number of people struggling to keep up with loan and credit card repayments. Increasing unemployment has become “a real source of [...]
Students are racking up crippling debts because they’re not being taught the difference between student loans and other forms of credit, a financial education charity warned this week. Chris Tapp, director of Credit Action, said because it’s “basically impossible” to get into difficulties with student loans, students are given the message that it’s fine to [...]
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 [...]
Research from price comparison service, uSwitch.com, has found that while Payday loans may offer quick and easy cash, they are one of the most expensive forms of loans in the UK, with some APRs of up to 9889.3%. According to uSwitch.com, a consumer taking out a payday loan of £750 could end up owing £1,687.50 [...]
Better debt management could save Brits up to £20 billion, according to price comparison site uSwitch.com. With total personal debt across the nation at £1.45 trillion, borrowers in the UK pay out £98 billion in interest every year. New research by uSwitch found that debt consolidation would save the UK £20 billion in interest payments, [...]
Credit Action is claiming that Northern Rock’s level of repossessions is twice that of its rivals. The debt charity is calling on the Treasury to intervene and insist that the nationalised lender responds more sympathetically to borrowers who fall behind with their mortgage repayments. It would like the bank to introduce mortgage payment holidays to [...]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than [...]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. [...]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees [...]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on [...]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages [...]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit [...]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE [...]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings [...]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though [...]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A [...]
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