Personal Finance - Have Consumers Had A Belly Full Of Personal Debt?
By Rachel Lane
For months, we were trigger-swipe happy, putting our groceries, clothes, holidays and service charges on our credit cards. We wanted mortgages, we took out loans, we watched Property Ladder and What Not To Wear. Whether you were born middle class, had middle class aspirations, you became middle class through your spending. Debt united people around the UK, we sympathised with each other on what we couldn’t afford – but it didn’t matter, we still bought it. Soon everybody had a bottle of Jacob’s Creek in their kitchen and olives and humous in the fridge.

Yet, it would seem as if a debt conscience is setting in. This morning, The Guardian printed a story based on the fact that Nationwide had reported a 0.2% decrease in the average house price, whilst the Times reported on a statement from the Bank of England, showing that credit-card borrowing was at its slowest rate for more than four years, with mortgage lending also very static.

According to the latest Department of Trade and Industry Survey, 5% of individuals reported finding their household’s debt repayments a “heavy burden” and 4% of individuals are currently behind in payments for at least one credit commitment or domestic bill over the past three months.

According to Credit Action, in December 2004, 1.2 million electricity and 1 million gas domestic customers were behind in repaying their debts to their supplier. Additionally 20% of people say that they often neglect checking their bank balance because “they are too scared to find out how much money they have”, according to Lloyds TSB.

Credit Action also reported that the number of people searching for help to manage their debts had almost doubled in May in 2005, compared to figures in May 2004 and a survey from Relate revealed that 44% of couples find money to be a contentious issue in their relationship and a quarter of people in debt are receiving treatment for stress, depression and anxiety from their GP.

It doesn’t have to be all doom

payday max
i have and outstanding loan of 300 dollars spossably there only sopose to finace 15% of you regular check fo me that would be 285.60 now there tryint to charge me 566 dollars what is legal in the state of claifornia i need hel bad i dont know what to do
Help Needed in Texas
This is my first post. All you folks are very helpful and hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction. I went to a realtor to kind of get an idea as to where my credit standing was and to enquire about purchasing a home with my fiance. He printed out a report and although its not great its not as bad as I anticipated. I have a few questions. 1) I have seen on various posts and sites about clearing up any old info such as addresses, inquiries, etc... Why is this a good option and ...
Removing Debt from Credit Report
I live in PA and i heard the statute of limitations on credit reports is 4 years. Is this 4 years from the date is it was opened or 4 years from the date it was closed? An example is: Verizon PEN 500 Technology Dr. Weldon Spring, MO 63304 Balance: $139 Date Updated: 10/08 High Balance $0 Past Due: $139 Pay Status: Charged off as bad debt Account Type: Open Account Responsibility: Individual Account Date Opene...
Will our income tax get taken away?
My husband is currently paying child support for his son that he has only known about for a year now. He owes 6,000 dollars back child support but currently pays $100 of it ontop of his regular child support. Even though he is never late on his payments and is currently paying on the back child support will his income tax be taken away and given to the mother of his child?
Ace Cash Express Payday loan
Today I was told that I have until the end of the day to come up with 329.00 or I was going to face some type of legal action against me (jail) and they were to come my job and I needed to come with the money or I was going to face check fraud I, can they do these things because I am really nervous now!
Statute of Limitation
On which Statute of Limitation would an eviction or broken lease contract fall in?
Clearing up credit
I realize now that I should have avoided this company. In 2004 I opened an account with gemb care credit. I paid off my account with in one year and took advantage of the free intrest. I requested the account to be closed at that time. However my husband just pulled our report. It shows that the account that I had long forgotten about was closed last month and had a 30 day late payment. I now have a ding on my credit report. My score is in the 700s and my husbands is in the 800s. Is it worth my ...
help
trying to log on forgot password can someone help
payday one loan
Has anyone had any dealings with PayDay One in paying back their loan ? I am on the brink of possibly being late in paying it back. Do they accept the EPP pay agreement ? Any help would help. Thanks
Too Good to Be True?
Im thinking about joining Resqdebt to help me get out of debt with credit cards and talked to a nice guy named Cory.He said they will pay half my balances and the other half I pay a monthly fee into my checking account until I have the rest to pay off the cc.They take one cc at a time and pay it off.It doesnt go against my credit rating and will show a 0 balance once its paid off.I have 3.5 years to pay all my cards off saving half off my total debt.He said if creditors call me ignore them.I ask...

and gloom however. If you’re lucky enough to have no outstanding debt, you can keep you finances in shape by exploiting the services of sites such as moneynet, which provide financial product price comparison information and extensive consumer information guides. If you have any outstanding debts, you can seek advice from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) or Citizens’ Advice and financial comparison sites like lowermybills and moneynet also provide detailed research on debt consolidation loans and debt management.

Resources:
http://www.moneynet.co.uk/credit-card-guide/index.shtml
http://www.creditaction.org.uk/debtstats.htm

About the Author

Rachel writes for the personalfinanosaurus Cashzilla http://www.cashzilla.co.uk Rachel has been writing personal finance related articles for six months and has learnt so much about mortgages and life insurance, that nobody invites her out to dinner anymore.