Debt Advice Weekly Round-Up

11/12/2009

It's been a tough week for consumers this week, and here's a round-up of the top stories that have been affecting you and your finances.

First of all, Ofgem revealed that electricity bills are likely to soar over the next five year.

The energy regulator blamed the increased charges on necessary improvements to infrastructure – but did warn providers not to use this as a "shameful excuse to overcharge customers".

And money pressures are such that savers are looking to stash cash under the mattress.

That's according to research from the Bank of England, which found that more and more people are keeping money at home rather than in banks in the current climate.

Their review of cash in circulation in the UK found that low inflation and a loss of faith in retail banks was to blame.

Further evidence of Britain's troubling relationship with lenders was found in a new survey from the Office of Fair Trading.

According to the OFT, half of Britain's borrowers are dependent on high-cost debt from so called 'doorstep lenders'.

A quarter of those using the high-interest lenders were doing so to deal with pre-existing financial problems.

Then we had Alistair Darling's much talked about pre-Budget report, which turned out to be a pretty disappointing one for the average consumer.

Headline announcements included a meagre pension increase of just £2.40 a week, and increases in both VAT and National Insurance contributions.

• Share
• 
• 
• Store
• 
• Follow
•