Financial Crisis
Horror statistics from debt charity - but there is a way out
Filed under: Credit Cards, Financial Crisis, Loans, Budgeting & Planning
It's official. Our debt problems aren't just terrible, they are unimaginably awful. A debt charity has announced that for one in three of the people who contact them, there's no traditional solution available. There's no clear way out.This is already bearing in mind that some of the solutions they are talking about are awful, and include everything from signing up to a strict budget for the next five or ten years, to losing your home in bankruptcy.
What they are saying today is that for one in three people, even if they did all of this, they still wouldn't be able to cope with their debts.
However, the charity, the brilliant CCCS, does point out that there may still be a way out.
Millions of Britons face losing their homes if monthly income fell just £300
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Mortgages
More than a quarter of Britons with a mortgage would be unable to meet their repayments if their monthly income dropped by just £300, new research from debt agency Callcredit shows.Perhaps the main reason so many of us are teetering on the brink of losing our homes is that almost one in 10 British adults have deliberately overestimated their income when applying for credit, while a further 6% of people have applied for credit knowing they might not be able to meet the repayments.
Even with the recession supposedly coming to an end, these shocking figures indicate that many people are still suffering its effects and will continue to do so for some time.
No rise in VAT or other taxes in the budget ahead of the election
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Taxes
There won't be a rise in VAT or other taxes in the budget in two weeks' time, the chief secretary to the Treasury, Liam Byrne has promised.But it's not going to be a "big giveaway budget" either, he said.
Byrne explicitly ruled out a rise in VAT from 17.5% to 20% - although this is something the Conservatives have not dismissed. He said there will be no new tax hikes in the 24 March budget, which comes six weeks before the probable date of the election.
This is a test
Was January's cold weather enough to derail the economic recovery?
Filed under: Financial Crisis
What is it about the British and chilly weather? Why does the whole country stop the moment a snowflake falls?Manufacturing slumped at the start of the year and everyone has blamed the weather. But even though other countries like Germany and the US also had unusually cold starts to the year and lots of snow, their economic recovery won't be derailed by a snowflake or two...
Will January's snow and ice nip the UK's nascent recovery from recession in the bud? Gordon Brown will hope not.
It's official. We wouldn't trust banks as far as we could spit them into a hurricane
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Saving, Loans
A recent debate on banking conducted by consumer organization Which? has revealed an almost total lack of trust in banks, with 96% of people agreeing the banks act more in their own interests than those of their customers.One consumer summed up many people's views by saying: "Banks don't value customers. They view us as cash cows."
At the Big Banking Debate in London last week, many said the banks won't learn their lesson from the financial crisis, after benefiting from taxpayer-backed bailouts. People also slammed irresponsible lending, especially to those who are most vulnerable.
This is a test2
Could you lose your home? The FSA thinks so
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Property
The financial regulator recently came out with a shocking claim. Lord Adair Turner warned that if we had shock rises in interest rates, more rises in unemployment, or falls in property prices, millions of people could lose their home.He said young families and young professionals were most at risk.
And the scary thing? All three of those things are entirely possible.
So what can we do about it?
Complaints against state-owned Lloyds and RBS soar a third in six months
Filed under: Financial Crisis
Banks have never exactly been at the top of the list of things we love. They are more likely to occupy the same sort of place in our hearts as early mornings, parking tickets and hoovering. But in the last six months, a few months after we ploughed billions into the banking system, we seem to have become even more annoyed with our banks.So what's going on, and what can we do about it?
Thousands of civil servants go on biggest strike since 1987
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Work & Careers
Some of us have been feeling rather smug about Greece's debt crisis and slow descent into chaos. But you'd be well advised not to gloat too much. Things here aren't much better. Up to 270,000 British civil servants have now gone on strike over redundancy pay, the biggest unrest since 1987 – and more action is planned in the run-up to the election.
The strike could be a sign of things to come if the cash-strapped government introduces swingeing cuts to plug the gaping black hole in the public finances.
Families missed out on £16bn of welfare benefits last year
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Loans, Families, Budgeting & Planning
Many people in debt are only claiming a third of the welfare benefits they are entitled to, according to the Consumer Credit Counselling Service.On average, a family on benefits missed out on £5,000 last year because they didn't claim everything they were entitled to. A whopping £16 billion of welfare benefits went unclaimed.
Consumer optimism hits record levels as recession consigned to the past
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Families
Consumer confidence is at its highest level for more than two years, and optimism about the future is higher than ever before, according to the latest Consumer Confidence Index from Nationwide building society.The overall index rose six points to 80 last month, putting it at the highest level since January 2008.
Meanwhile, the Expectations Index, which measures consumers' optimism about the future, jumped to 115 points - the highest level since Nationwide began conducting the research in 2004.
And the brighter outlook painted by the figures, released today, has helped Sterling to strengthen too, gaining 0.3% against the US dollar in early trading.
