Consumers’ finances are deteriorating at their fastest rate since the depth of the recession in 2009, according to a new report.
Consumer research group Markit’s Household Finance Index showed that British households are increasingly dipping into any savings they have and taking on more debt as soaring inflation takes its toll on family budgets.
Some ...
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- Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 11:00
- Debt Management, Personal Finance
Debt management companies that offer advice to consumers in financial difficulty will be forced to comply with stricter rules or face being closed down.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it found unacceptable failings in the way some private debt management firms operated and is currently consulting on new rules designed ...
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- Friday, February 4, 2011, 13:28
- Debt Management
The number of people declared insolvent throughout England and Wales in 2010 hit a record high as the ongoing financial squeeze tightened its grip on struggling families.
The Insolvency Service, the government agency that regulates the insolvency industry, said that the number of personal cases rose by 0.7% to 135,089 up from 134,142 in ...
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- Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 12:34
- Debt Management
Impartial debt specialists have stopped taking on new cases because the government is axing their funding from next month.
The £25m-a-year Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) has been paying for 500 debt counsellors to give free advice to people who are struggling to repay money they have borrowed in England and Wales.
Mark ...
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- Friday, January 7, 2011, 15:11
- Debt Management
A Scottish MP has called for an investigation into the insolvency industry amid concerns that some companies are cashing in at the expense of creditors who are owed money.
The Scottish National Party’s (SNP) Business Spokesman Mike Weir said that the process of claiming money owed can take years meaning that those who have ...
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- Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 13:27
- Debt Management, Featured
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has continued to take payments from graduates who have already paid off their loans, it has been revealed.
More than £15 million was taken from the wage packets of former students last year and some 57,000 were waiting for a refund for the year to March 2010, according to the consumer ...
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- Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 15:51
- Debt Management
Yesterday’s announcement in the Welsh assembly will cause what the Daily Mail describes as a “tuition fees apartheid” with students in England paying up to £18,000 more for their education than their counterparts in Wales and Scotland.
Under the planned rules, an English student studying in a Welsh or Scottish ...
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- Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 15:45
- Debt Management
Nine out of ten people aged between 18 and 35 have built up unsecured debt that they will never be able pay back.
A study for Myvouchercodes.co.uk found that 89% of people surveyed feared that they would die owing large amounts of money to credit card, loan and overdraft providers.
Of those who said that they expected ...
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- Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 14:54
- Debt Management
The amount of money written-off by banks on unsecured consumer debt fell sharply in third quarter of the year after hitting a high in the previous three months.
Lenders wrote off £1.83 billion in defaulted debt in the three months to the end of September, some 47% less than the £3.47 billion lost in ...
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- Monday, November 22, 2010, 15:40
- Debt Management
Every family in Britain will pay just under £300 to pay for George Osborne’s bailout of the Irish economy.
The £7.5 billion the UK taxpayer will pay towards the EU rescue package of £85 billion is roughly equivalent to the money the government plan to slash from public spending each year effectively wiping out one year’s worth ...
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- Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 15:32
- Debt Management
The number of young people seeking help from Citizens Advice increased by more than 20% over the last 12 months.
Problems for which the under-25s sought help leapt to 729,825 with 80% of them relating to unemployment, debt and housing issues as the recession continued to take its toll on the young.
Requests for ...
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- Thursday, November 11, 2010, 15:42
- Debt Management
Up to three million people are struggling to meet their monthly mortgage payments with millions more continuing to borrow to fund a lifestyle beyond their means.
Research carried out for the housing charity Shelter found that 18% of borrowers consistently struggle to meet their commitments each month compared to 10% a year ago.
The figures ...
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- Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 16:27
- Debt Management, Featured
The coalition government’s university tuition fee reforms will see many graduates saddled with debt until their mid-50s.
An investigation by the Daily Mail has found that graduates who leave university and earn a modest income are likely to still be paying off their student loan when their own children are starting their studies. It’s ...
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- Monday, August 16, 2010, 8:21
- Debt Management, Personal Finance
Last week, new government data revealed that the number of people over the age of 65 is set to continue growing to almost a quarter of the population in 20 years time. Now, a new report from AXA, the financial protection provider, warns that today's pensioners are being hit by escalating money worries that severely ...
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According to a new report from Which?, low credit interest,
high overdraft charges and big fees on spending abroad means that while we may not pay a monthly sum for our current accounts,
banking is not free.
For example, the consumer champion's research reveals that consumers could be spending as ...
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The latest Inflation Report from the
Bank of England has suggested that the economy is recovering at a slower rate than expected.
The report, released today, states:
"The recovery continued in the United Kingdom, with output growth across the first half of 2010 close to its historical average. But the level of ...
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£42.9 million is hidden down the back of Britain's sofas, according to new research from
Halifax.
The survey reveals that Brits are not looking after the pennies when it comes to making the most of loose change. Two thirds of Brits (65%) regularly find loose change in a variety of places which could be put ...
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- Friday, August 6, 2010, 14:53
- Debt Management, Featured
The latest figures from the Insolvency Service have revealed that
personal insolvencies fell in the second quarter of 2010.
There were 34,743 individual insolvencies in England and Wales in the second quarter of 2010. This was an increase of 5.0% on the same period a year ago.
This was made up of 14,982 bankruptcies ...
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- Friday, June 25, 2010, 12:38
- Debt Management, Featured
Debt charity Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) has seen a dramatic rise in calls from people in rented accommodation seeking help with eviction.
Previously, it was homeowners rather than renters worried about losing their home who were contacting the charity for help with avoiding eviction. CCCS says that this is no longer the case and ...
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- Friday, June 18, 2010, 11:54
- Debt Management
According to new research by uSwitch.com, new mothers are being forced back to work by
debt and financial concerns.
Over half of new mums returning to the workplace do so because of debt and financial considerations (52%) compared with just 22% who want to continue their career. And such is the financial impact of going ...
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