This week's Money News

02/10/2009

Welcome to Money News, bringing you the latest news on the issues affecting your personal finances.

Nearly 30 per cent of students expect to leave university with debts in excess of £20,000, a survey by Endsleigh insurance found this week. A further one in six believe they will graduate with more than £15,000 of debt.

By contrast, a new survey carried out by Abbey revealed that many parents greatly underestimate how much debt their children will graduate from university with.

Two thirds said they expected it to be less than £5,000, which is only a quarter of what many students believe it will be.

Debt management could be the answer to the financial problems of more than 12 million people, a report from Bright Grey revealed. With more than a quarter of the population struggling to meet outgoings, a Debt Management Plan'>Debt Management Plan or an IVA could help them manage their finances.

The Reality Gap study found that 55 per cent of people would struggle to meet their monthly outgoings if they rose by £100 or more.

Instead of seeking debt management help, many Britons are turning to pawnbrokers for quick and easy finance.

The UK's largest pawnbroker, Albemarle & Bond, this week reported a 42 per cent rise in profits, driven largely by the gold buying service it introduced in February.

However, Citizens Advice has warned that the higher interest rates they charge could see people fall into a debt spiral which is very difficult to get out of.

The recession has changed the way the nation views savings and debt. That's according to Moneynet.co.uk spokesman Andrew Hagger, who also said that rising unemployment has also encouraged people to focus on their personal finances.

Industry news now and the Financial Services Authority is to force firms to re-examine more than 185,000 rejected complaints from people who say they were mis-sold payment protection insurance.

Meanwhile, the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed this week that its members fully support the FSA's plan to better regulate the sale-and-rent-back market, which includes tighter regulation of advertising and the introduction of a cooling-off period.

The CML has also welcomed figures from the Bank of England which showed the number of default rates on mortgages fell in the third quarter of year for the first time in two years.

Finally, the Office of Fair Trading has rejected an application from U-Turn Financial Solutions for a consumer credit licence. The OFT said the firm's director, Andreas Haralambous, has shown disregard for industry rules in the past and that he was not suitable for the licence.

Thanks for watching today’s Money News. If you’d like to take control of your finances, take the Debt Calculator test on our website to see where debt management solutions can help you.

• Share
• 
• 
• Store
• 
• Follow
•