Morgan Stanley recently delivered a grim warning that within the next 12 months UK house prices will fall by 15 per cent, and 1.2 million people will be pushed into negative equity as a result.
Many homeowners, particularly first time buyers, have borrowed 100% or more of their home’s value when taking out a mortgage over […]
Many households will be pushed over the edge into bankruptcy this year as borrowing channels dry up as a result of the international credit crunch.Â
A report from the TDX Group, which provides detailed debt-collection information to lenders, claims that about one millions consumers are struggling with ‘problem debt’, at an average of around £25,000 each. […]
Consumers make many excuses for the - often unhappy - state of their finances. The sub-prime mortgage market fiasco in the US has highlighted the importance of responsible lending, but has also drawn attention to the importance of consumer responsibility. Here in the UK where consumers enjoy a collective multi-billion pound relationship with credit, it’s […]
According to British Psychologists, today is Blue Monday – the most depressing day of the year. Apparently the foul weather, lack of daylight and feelings of guilt over failed New Year’s resolutions accumulate suitably by mid-late January to have us all at our lowest emotional points. And then, as if your failure to have as […]
Yesterday the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to maintain interest rates at 5.5%, to the surprise of many economists who had been predicting a further drop following that made in December. Until the minutes of the meeting are published later in the month it remains to be seen how close the vote was, […]
The Bank of England has today reported a reduction on the availability of secured credit to households over the last three months, and expects the same to continue over the first quarter of 2008. What does this mean for consumers? In a nutshell: that secured lending is becoming harder to access due to more stringent […]
It is a well known fact that January is the longest month in the calendar year. It may only contain 31 days, the same as half of the rest of the months in the year, but somehow January is definitely longer. The days are shorter, the darkness seemingly endless; the cold no longer seems festive […]
I read with some astonishment this morning that an astounding 75% of borrowers do not believe that they are responsible for their own levels of over-indebtedness. Three quarters of consumers do not feel responsible for making their own decisions regarding their finances, and feel that instead, lenders are to blame. With repossessions on the rise […]
