Debt management weekly round-up

05/02/2010

It's been another busy period of news for debt sufferers this time around – here are the stories that have hit our headlines this week.

On Monday we heard that ten per cent of Brits had been caught out by scams at some point in their lives.

The finding came from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as they launched their 'scamnesty' campaign – urging consumers to dump their dodgy correspondence in designated boxes in public areas and online.

We then found out that consumer debt increased in December as people looked to cover the cost of Christmas – this is mainly made up of credit card debt.

Statistics from the Bank of England showed the first increase in personal debt since June 2009, with the largest borrowing being on plastic.

Ofgem then warned that energy bills could rise dramatically in the coming decade to cover the necessary cost of structural changes.
Its Project Discovery report found that inaction was "not an option", while chief executive Andrew Buchanan warned on the BBC that energy bills could rise by 20 per cent.

On Thursday, a report from the National Audit Office warned that a government debt help service was unable to cope with demand.

Their research found a 28 per cent spike in debt calls in the space of one year, with UK consumers holding a shocking £1.46 trillion in debt at the end of 2009.

Finally, the Bank of England's decision to hold interest rates at 0.5 per cent continued the reprieve for debt sufferers.

However, analysts warned that rates may have to be raised in the near future to deal with rapidly rising inflation.

We also had figures from the Insolvency Service which showed that personal bankruptcies soared to record highs in 2009.

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