A recent survey has revealed that the Citizen’s Advice Bureau has seen a rise in the number of enquiries relating to mortgage arrears and debt related issues over the first part of this year. Money issues have always been one of the most commonly dealt with problems by the CAB, but with credit conditions tighter than ever and households facing huge financial woes, there has been a marked increase in the number of money related matters, including worries about mortgage arrears, that the CAB has been dealing with.

Many homeowners have been panicking over how to keep up with their mortgage repayments, as well as with payments on bills and other financial commitment, and this has been reflected in the increased level of enquiries. The CAB has confirmed that debt is the single most common issue that it deals with now, and the rise in the number of enquiries was revealed following a survey of three hundred CAB offices around the UK.

It was revealed that over January and February of this year there was a rise of 35% in debt related enquiries compared to the same period the previous year. Whilst interest rates did come down in December and February, they rose five times between August 2006 and July 2007, and in addition to higher mortgage repayments households have also had to face higher energy bills, increased food costs, and higher petrol prices, all of which have impacted on household finances.

One CAB official said: “It is a worrying trend that our bureaux are reporting very sharp increase in the number of mortgage arrears problems they are dealing with.” She went on to state: “The combination of big increases in household bills, especially fuel, and rising housing costs is putting additional pressure on people’s finances when they are already stretched to the limit.”

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