Weekly Round-up

13/11/2009

It's been reported this week that in a time where many people are struggling to get credit more than three-quarters of over-50s who apply for credit cards are accepted immediately.

Research by price comparison site Confused.com shows that 77 per cent of older people have no trouble in securing credit.

But by taking credit at an advanced stage of a career could create problems - such as debts mounting up when people should be saving for their retirement.

It comes in the same week as claims by Abbey Savings that more than 1 in 4 parents with young children aren't saving any money for their children's future.

The stats reveal that 20 per cent of parents have less than £1000 in savings to fall back on during tough financial times.

It's not surprising parents are struggling to save when new stats claims that one in four people are spending more on bills than they did six months ago.

It's a frustrating reality for some as British Gas who are expected to announce record profits, despite not passing on reductions in costs on to customers.

More than one in four bill payers (27%) is spending more on food, travel and utility bills, than they did six months ago.

The research by Callcredit also suggests that just 38 per cent of consumers cited credit or store cards as a payment priority and just 15 per cent said that they would prioritise paying off a personal loan.

However there are signs that people are becoming more careful about borrowing unsecured credit in 2009.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an accountancy firm, indicated that both the demand for and the availability of credit cards and personal loans had lessened in the credit crunch and recession.

The report added that APRs are likely to rise in future and that old-fashioned annual fees will begin to be reintroduced on cards, this means people with low incomes could also become increasingly shut out of being accepted for consumer credit.

New research by the Resolution Foundation revealed that the recession is forcing 14.3 million of us into money difficulties as repaying debts takes up a large portion of available cash.

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