Posts Tagged ‘rates’


Cash squeeze to be felt by many households

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

It has been claimed recently by a leading debt charity that many households are set to feel the financial squeeze as a result of a range of factors that is affecting affordability for many individuals and households. The warning comes from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, which has said that middle earning families are likely to be most affected.

Amongst the factors that are thought to come into the equation are rising interest rates, fewer tax credits, and higher tax thresholds. According to the CCCS many vulnerable families would continue to struggle in terms of their finances, and this was especially true of families or households with a lot of children.

Homeowners are said to have a higher level of unsecured debt than those renting a property according the CCCS data. Almost half a million households were assessed as part of the study by the debt charity. The data showed that the typical age of the person seeking help from the charity was now forty two years, and the age of those in the most debt was between fifty and fifty nine years.

The CCCS said that a rise of just 2 percent on the interest rate could result in the average monthly mortgage increasing by £307, which would put additional strain on households.

The charity said: “The picture is undoubtedly bleak and it seems likely that many more families, including better-off ones, will be increasingly prone to over-indebtedness in the months ahead. It is also not a uniform picture across the country: public sector cuts in terms of jobs, spending and benefits will weigh disproportionately on certain groups of people. The incidence of unmanageable debt bears down harder on specific parts of the country, such as London and Yorkshire.”

Tags: cccs, percent, middle earning families, mortgage, Service, rates, higher level

Consumers advised to shop around for loans

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

At this time of year many people may end up looking for a loan, with some wanting a loan in order to fund Christmas purchases, others looking to consolidate their debts with a loan, and some simply looking to get a loan to make payment for a one off purchase either before the VAT increase kicks in or when the sales start.

One consumer campaign group, Which?, has stated that consumers should make sure that they shop around in order to get the best deal on a loan, adding that heading to their bank may not necessarily be the right option, as they could end up paying way over the odds by asking to borrow money from their bank.

In fact, the group suggested that it might be advisable for consumers to head to the local supermarket in order to get a competitive unsecured loan, as this could work out cheaper in terms of both repayments and overall interest. Many supermarkets now offer personal loans, and have appeared on a number of best buy tables when it comes to value for money on borrowing.

Figures show that the rates of interest being charged on personal loans from a range of High Street lenders are far higher than the rates being charged by some of the supermarket giants, including Tesco and Sainsbury’s. The consumer group also said that consumers could get cheaper rates with larger loans, and could benefit from recent drops in personal loan interest rates, which could save them more money.

One official from Which? said: ‘It seems perverse that consumers are offered a better rate the more debt they take on, but that unfortunately is the way the market works. If you’re planning to borrow smaller amounts, it’s worth considering the alternatives, including credit cards, in-store interest-free credit, credit unions or peer-to-peer lending sites such as Zopa.’

Tags: loan, rates, local supermarket, Person-to-person lending, payment

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