Archive for August, 2011


Banks to tell consumers to cut back on spending to avoid mortgage debt

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

It has recently been reported that a number of banks are planning to carry out secret credit checks on mortgage customers and then contact those that they believe are on the verge of falling into mortgage debt to tell them to cut back on their spending in other areas. Whilst the banking industry may view this as a proactive move there are many that will view it as downright intrusive and the plans have now resulted in heated debate over whether this is something that banks should be allowed to do.

According to reports banks are looking to identify which customers are at risk of falling into arrears, particularly if interest rates were to increase, and then contact them by phone to advise them to reduce their spending on things such as mobile phones, television services, internet, going out, and other things that some may consider to be luxuries or non-essentials.

Banks are set to be very blunt about the options that some of those who will be contacted will have available to them – basically, they will be told that they either need to reduce their spending or they could risk losing their home. Homeowners are being warned to focus on their homes and mortgages rather than splashing out on things that they do not need, as those that are already on the verge of problems will most certainly struggle if rates increase from their all time low of 0.5 percent.

One banking official said: “Some people won’t cope when interest rates rise, but for others there are remedies. They need to think about what is their most important debt. It is not their credit card or renewing their Sky subscription, or going out for the latest mobile technology. It is their mortgage. We want customers to look at their finances and change their behaviour.”

Tags: Interest, important debt, latest mobile technology, sky subscription, Business Finance, mobile phones

Government cutbacks result in more debt

Monday, August 29th, 2011

A recent report has indicated that many people are being forced into so much debt as a result of the government cutbacks that they are being steered towards getting money from legal loan sharks, putting them in an even worse financial situation that it even more likely to spiral out of control. The left wing pressure group Compass has released the report, claiming that the widespread cutbacks have had a profound negative effect on the financial situations of many people.

The report claims that many people are now being forced to turn to legal loan sharks in order to get the money that they need to keep their heads above water financially, which means that they are getting deeper and deeper into debt and financial trouble. The group carried out interviews with over 250 social housing tenants in the West Midlands and 28 percent said that they now found that their debt levels were unmanageable.

Of those that were polled the average income was less than £8000 per annum yet the average amount of debt that was being paid out was £1200, which meant that around a quarter of income was being eaten up by debt. With many of these households on such a low income anyway this impact of paying out a quarter on debt is financially crippling, particularly given the soaring cost of living.

One official involved in the research said: “What makes this particularly alarming is that the Government is banking on personal debt increasing as a way to reduce the deficit but 28 per cent of those we surveyed are finding debts increasingly unmanageable. The Government’s economic plan could be driving borrowers into the arms of legal loan sharks which is a particularly unpleasant experience.”

Tags: order, control, group, cost, way, polled

Debts lead to lack of savings for households

Friday, August 19th, 2011

It has been reported that factors such as high living costs, households debts, and a drop in income is results in millions of households across the UK being unable to save any money. New research has been carried on to show that around five million households in the UK are failing to save enough money whilst almost 50 percent of them are concerned about their debts.

The report was commissioned by the debt charity the Consumer Credit Counselling Service. Figures that were released by the Financial Inclusion Centre have revealed that around 4.3 million households have no savings at all and over 1 million households with savings of less than £1000.

Many of these households are already at risk of facing problems if there are any unexpected costs that they incur. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) found that around 27 percent of households that had no savings had become reliant on credit for day to day spending on a regular basis compared to 9 percent of those that had savings of between £1000 and £10,000.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service also revealed that only 5.4 percent of people that sought help from the debt charity had any form of savings in place, and officials from the charity think that the situation could become increasingly worse due to inflation and high living costs. There are also rising concerns that struggling households could turn to high interest borrowing because they cannot get finance in the traditional way.

One official said: ‘Households that are already struggling may find traditional lenders unwilling to provide further credit and are therefore drawn to short-term credit solutions. Individuals turning to short-term loans and credit cards should be wary of the high interest rates that often accompany these products. Overall debt can quickly snowball out of control.’

Tags: savings, Inclusion, snowball, households, Overall debt, high living costs, debt

Brits should stop saving and pay off debt

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

An industry expert has recently stated that Brits need to make sure that they are not saving money when they have a lot of high interest debts that they need to pay off. There are many people who, although they have high interest debts such as credit cards, store cards, loans, and overdrafts, continue to put any spare cash into their savings accounts rather than using it to repay some more of their debt.

Justin Modray of online resource Candid Money said that in the current financial climate it was important for people that had high interest debts to focus on using their money to repay these debts rather than using it to put to one side. This has become particularly important given that the base interest rate has remained, once again, at an all time low of just 0.5 percent, which means that savers are unlikely to get much if anything by way of returns on their savings.

Modray said that the sensible option for consumers in debt was to make sure that they made payments on their debts and tried to get themselves back on track financially rather than putting money into savings where they would get little in the way of interest whilst paying off debt that came with a shed load of interest added. This way, consumers could get themselves back on track and avoid paying a lot of unnecessary interest.

He said that those who already had savings could use them to repay debt and could put extra money toward making debt repayments without the worry of saving for emergencies.

Modray said: “Those fortunate enough to have savings can use them to stave off debt, but I think for many it’s more a case of just trying not to drown in debt and saving for the future remains a pipedream.”

Tags: financial climate, Interest, home, worry, savers, spare cash, saving money

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