All Posts Tagged With: "debt issues"


The number of people who are filing for some kind of debt protection is increasing in the UK

 Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Nov 02 2009 | 0 Comments

no more money

In Great Britain, PriceWaterhouseCoopers has said that more and more people are declaring bankruptcy at an increasing rate, however the number of people who are declaring bankruptcy isn’t increasing at the rate that was expected.

In February 2009, 67,428 people declared bankruptcy and another almost 40,000 people decided to turn to Individual Voluntary Arrangements in 2008. The total for the entire United Kingdom of people who had filed for bankruptcy protection was just over 106,000 people.

There were plenty of financial analysts that were expecting there to be more than 130,000 people in the United Kingdom that would have filed for bankruptcy or for the Individual Voluntary Arrangements by the end of 2008.

The only reason that there weren’t more IVAs taken out was because (as analysts believe) people were taking out a second mortgage on their homes. When someone gets a secured loan such as this one, they are no longer eligible for an IVA. This would also account as to why there are more repossessions in the United Kingdom this year. When someone puts their house up as collateral, then it is going to be taken by the creditor when that person decides to default on the loan, or they can no longer pay on the loan.

In the final quarter of 2008, more than 13,000 houses were taken back by the bank. This number is quite likely to go up in 2009 as more mortgages are expected to be underwater by the end of the year

In April 2009, the Debt Relief Order was introduced by the United Kingdom government. It was meant to help those who are having serious debt issues with small incomes. The people that it helps are those who have very few assets (less than 300 British pounds in value) and a disposable income of under 50 pounds a month. It will also only help those who owe less than 15,000 pounds.

Of course, there are plenty of options out there for those who want to and have the intentions of fixing their debt issues. One does not have to merely fall into that small gap to qualify for debt relief. This is where the IVAs come in. With an IVA, someone can keep their home and go through a process to help alleviate some of their debt issues. Again, there are certain stipulations to this kind of debt relief as well, but it isn’t as stringent as the DRO from the government.

Source

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Debt issues may be helped with a little help…

 Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Sat, Jun 20 2009 | 0 Comments

There is a new study out that says too many people are not seeking help for their debt related issues. In the United Kingdom, YouGov released a quarterly DebtTracker survey and in February 2009, the results were that 37 percent of those surveyed who had fallen behind in their bills were seeking debt counseling or had sought debt counseling in the past six months. Another 64 percent of those surveyed who had fallen behind on payments said that they didn’t need any help when it came to their debt issues.

These numbers don’t exactly follow what other polls have found, because a majority of those with low incomes worry about their financials and financial situation. A poll by the Resolution Foundation said 3 million people who are classified as low income worry all the time about their finances and 90% worry at least sometimes about their finances. PriceWaterhouseCoopers said that one in six people in the United Kingdom think that they can’t even cover credit commitments like credit cards and other credit based bills. The PriceWaterhouseCoopers research was conducted across all socio-economic groups, not just low income groups.

With numbers like these, one would think that they would go on to seek some kind of debt advice or counseling. I honestly believe that most people don’t know where to get debt counseling services or simply don’t think that anyone can help them out of the situation that they are currently in. With so many people going into default status on their credit commitments in not only the United Kingdom, but all across the world, it seems like those who are having debt problems and are falling behind on payments would try to seek some sort of help.

From DebtFreeDirect.co.uk: In the United Kingdom, Which Magazine said that as many as 6 million people are worried about their homes going into foreclosure.

All the statistics have revealed a lack of people seeking help with debt issues and also a large amount of people who have serious worries about their financial situations. Getting some form of debt counseling could prevent or at least alleviate some of the worry associated with foreclosure for those six million people above as well as for all those who have serious worries about their finances.

The truth is, and this goes for anyone who is in debt or will be in debt sometime in their life, you can’t simply hide from the fact that you’re in debt. It’s not something that if you hide from it will go away. Even if you’re in way over your head, you can have your debt issues worked out with the help of a counselor or other financial advisor.

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Debt Free Direct ad introduces a bit of creativity

 Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, May 18 2009 | 0 Comments

Do you ever feel like a bird trapped in a cage when it comes to debt? Debt Free Direct has taken that sentiment and created an advertisement to help customers out with trying to break free from the “debt cage.”

The advertisement is quite simple in the fact that it is telling the potential customer some of the things they may have to qualify for debt assistance from Debt Free Direct. The ad features a bird that follows a trail of seed (representing how easy it is to get into debt) into a cage, where it is trapped. The little bird is unable to get out of the cage until another bird comes along (the Debt Free Direct bird, perhaps) and gives the trapped little bird a key to the cage. The birds fly away together at the end of the commercial with jovial music playing in the background to the announcement “Set yourself Debt Free.”

The ad can be watched here: Debt Free Direct Advertisement

Sometimes we can feel like a bird trapped in a cage, or perhaps we feel as though we’re in an endless cycle of debt that we may or may not be able to escape. The ad kind of reminds me of an ad that was on a while back in the United States with a man riding a lawnmower talking about all the great things he had, then saying, “I’m in debt up to my eyeballs.” I suppose, because whenever I think about being in debt that’s always the commercial that comes to mind.

Debt Free Direct in a United Kingdom based Debt Management business that offers free advice to anyone who seeks it. The ad is telling potential customers that there may be government assistance for their debt issues if they owe less than 15,000 pounds (excluding their mortgage) and the customer or their spouse has a full time job then they may be able to help reduce monthly payments, which is what all debt management companies should be trying to help their customers do.

I think it is nice to see a little creativity in an ad like this. Like the one I mentioned seeing here in the States, the Debt Free ad is a bit different than usual. Usually it is simply an ad that is bland or maybe a print ad in a paper. Perhaps debt management is becoming a big business?

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