Debt Advice Help and Support

85 per cent concerned about energy debt

Some 85 per cent of UK consumers are concerned that they could be plunged into debt management issues due to their winter fuel bills, Research from price comparison site uSwitch.com has found that already many people are having to cut back on essential items because of the 21 per cent hike in energy prices which [...]

Chinese save more money than Brits

New figures show that indebted Britons save less money on average than people in communist China. According to Lloyds TSB, the proportion of disposable income being stashed away by consumers has seen a significant fall in recent years and now stands at around seven per cent. In comparison, the figure stands at ten per cent [...]

Consumers trying to pay debt at record levels

Consumers paid more off personal debts than ever before during December. According to figures released this week by the Bank of England, a whopping £377 million was paid off unsecured loans in the run up to Christmas, the largest amount since records began in 1993. The number went some way to reversing the £400 million [...]

71 per cent of students do not know what APR means

New research from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) shows that a large proportion of students have personal debt but are clueless when it comes to understanding the basics of finance. According to the research, one-fifth (19 per cent) have a store card but a whopping 71 per cent do not even know what the term [...]

Slight improvement in financial wellbeing does not mean the end of debt issues

While debt problems persist in being a major issue, new research released this week shows that the financial wellbeing of UK consumers improved slightly towards the back end of last year. According to the latest Alliance Trust UK Financial Reality Index consumer wealth rose 56.7 to 62.1 in the fourth quarter of 2011. However, as [...]

Weekly debt management round up

Figures released this week illustrate the difficult financial times we live in. We've been well aware of the financial woes many families find themselves in since the start of the credit crunch in 2008, but a series of studies published this week really drum home the extent of the problem. Shelter, a charity for the [...]

Excessive credit card use last year makes 2012 a miserable time

January has been a month of misery for millions of Brits due to over spending on credit cards over the past 12 months. Dubbed 'The Year of The Credit Card' 2011 saw the average person use their plastic 267 times, shelling out more than £17,000 in the process. Research into the spending habits of 4,105 [...]

Debt levels have risen by 48 per cent in the last year

Rising living costs, higher than expected unemployment, and an inability to save for the future has lead to debt levels soaring. This is according to pensions and insurance provider Aviva, whose latest research shows that typical family debt grew by a whopping 48 per cent last year, rising from £5,360 in January last year to [...]

Thousands of people retiring with debt

It's not just young people who are struggling to keep a handle on their debts as new research from Prudential shows that one in five people reaching retirement age are in debt. Some 18 per cent of those looking to retire this year will do with outstanding financial commitments, with the average debt level standing [...]

Almost one in ten relying on credit cards to live

Almost one in ten people are relying on credit card debt to make ends meet. New research conducted by price comparison website Go Compare found that 26 per cent of Brits will be in debt with their plastic throughout this year and more worryingly nine per cent need their credit card just to pay for [...]