Credit Compensation

In the UK the financial ombudsman deals with complaints about fiscal matters. It seems that one of the biggest topics of complaint has been about controversial loan insurance sometimes called PPI.

There’s now a whole industry springing up for credit compensation and credit repair solutions because there are so many complaints.

Something like 25000 consumer complaints have been registered, all relating to the possible mis-selling of PPI, or payment protection insurance. And with a possible credit claim against institutions they’re being scrutinised carefully.

Indeed a number of institutions have been fined for such mis-selling. The idea behind PPI is simple. It works to cover repayments on loans or credit cards if you can’t pay, either through illness, or unemployment, or a number of other causes.

To a prudent borrower that sounds very sensible. But in many cases lenders have been accused of mis-selling the protection. The Competition Commission discovered that in 2006 something like 1.4 billion pounds out of 3.5 billion pounds of insurance was actually “excess profit” for the institutions that sold them. That’s a lot of excess!

The FSA has said that they believe that financial services companies have been too slow to stop mis-selling PPI. With 1.4 billion pounds in “excess” profits it’s very tempting to speculate as to why.

One thing is certain, the number of people complaining is likely to grow as more people discuss the situation. And the first successful claims made will inevitably fuel the growth of more claims from other people who might have been affected.

Pest control in Chorley, Preston and Leyland 2010

Pest and vermin control in the North West has seen a relatively early this year which is very surprising given the relatively cold winter of 2009/10.

Pest and vermin operatives were kept busy with the usual town centre rat calls throughout the winter of 2009/10, but the relatively cold late winter has already brought some ant infestations reported.

The fairly wet summers of 2008 and 2009 were not to the benefit of the hymenoptera (wasps, bees and ants) but 2010 looks like it will be a hectic year for ant work.

Usually ants nest under the floors of buildings and inside cavity walls causing a large number of foraging ants to enter kitchens and food cupboards.

However it is at the annual mating time when they can be most troublesome as they create winged queens and males which then mate on the wing.

The emergence of many thousands of these winged ants inside houses can be traumatic indeed.

A fairly new pest was especially prevalant in the Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire area last year, the Varied Carpet Beetle (Anthrenus verbasci).

It was not common for pest controllers in Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire to come across these pests until recent times but they seemed to arrive from nowhere in 2008 and already this March has seen reports of these insects in large numbers.

They have a similar life cycle to moths their larvae, called woolly bears devour natural fibres and can do substantial damage to carpets and all fabrics. They can be a difficult and tricky pest to eradicate.

Bed Bugs are continuing their renaissance in the Cheshire, Lancashire and Manchester area, often arriving as unwanted guests in the suitcases of home-coming travellers.

Often the first reaction of those unfortunates who realise that they are infested with these horrific,blood-sucking insects is to get rid of the old beds and purchase.

This is a costly mistake as despite their name bed bugs not only stay in beds and in an infested room will be found everywhere within around five metres of the bed, in cupboards, drawers etc, even in electrical wall sockets and the new beds become rapidly re-infested.

A lot of people confuse bed bugs with dust mites which are not visible to the naked eye.

They dine only on blood which they take from their sleeping hosts. People regularly associate bed bugs with insanitary conditions but nothing could be less accurate, they do not need grime, their food is you!

Up to April 30th 2010 Harrier & Manchester Pest Control are offering a 25% reduction on their guaranteed ant treatment.

This revolutionary treatment which is guaranteed for three years, extendable indefinitely in additional three year chunks by a affordable re-treatment every three years, can be carried out in most homes subject to free site survey

For the summer of 2010 Harrier Pest Control are providing a fixed price for destroying wasps nests in the Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire area of just thirty two pounds.

Contact Harrier Pest control for more details on 0800 019 8382 or 0161 930 8814

Http://yackk.com/

Initiate a Money Exchange with a Qualified Internet Service!

If you would like to send any sum of cash internationally it is truly easy. Yet which service you employ is based on the sum! For instance, if you just want to transfer a couple of hundred pounds to India you can go to your local Western Union branch on the high street. This is a really straightforward way of transferring funds. On the other hand if you need to send more than about five thousand you might employ an internet money exchange brokerage. They initiate the exchange free of charge! Before employing a merchant ensure they are completely monitored by the Financial Services Authority.

Good Value Currency Transfer Services Here!Masses of people need to transfer funds overseas, including myself. I have relocated to the UK from Sweden and regularly need to send funds to my wife who still lives at home. I generally transfer her about 3,000 each four weeks, and I do this by employing a currency exchange company. There are plenty of expert brokers who offer the best rates of exchange. A few individuals believe that they are exclusively for company clients yet they also do retail customer accounts. You can send money online with a truly simple process. You receive a personal dealer who you can contact anytime on the phone.

Easy Credit on the Internet and Anybody May Apply! The freezing climate may still be around, but there is no a need to be down in the dumps! You might be having difficulty with funds, but thankfully you can find any kind of loan easily. There are presently plenty of companies who specialize in loans for people who have trouble obtaining acceptance from normal banks. You could obtain bad credit loans which are offered by companies who dont carry out credit checkups! Requesting takes minutes and the approval is mostly made in seconds. You might have the funds you require this time tomorrow!

As Crime Figures Climb Need Contents Insurance

Summary:  
Contents insurance covers everything removable in your home.  Find out how costly it would be to buy new.  You can decide to pay more for further insurance cover.

Check out your home and observe the removable items that you take for granted, like the furniture, your clothes, jewellery, computers and TV’s, even the food in your freezer. Oh and don’tDon’t forget the lawn mower if you keep it in a locked shed down the garden.  And money you may perhaps keep in a drawer, up to around 250 pounds perhaps. These items constitute the ‘contents’ for insurance purposes and they ought to be insured against damage or loss.

It is not mandatory to have home and contents insurance so being able to obtain a mortgage would not depend on having it, nevertheless it is extremely significant.

People normally claim if their property has been stolen or damaged, but contents policy would normally also protect against events such as a fire, an explosion, vandalism or damage due to water leaks or overflows.

The expense of replacing the locks is usually incorporated contents insurance policy if your bag was taken with the house keys in it. 

Unfortunate mishaps can and do happen, and most insurances will pay out for broken door for example.  You have to state and pay extra to include damage to electronic gadgets, so check the clauses in the insurance policy vigilantly to be certain that you are getting the protection you expect.

You can opt for an ‘all risks’ extension to your contents policy which covers damage or loss to your property, when you are travelling.  Things such as binoculars, cameras, spectacles and of course your jewellery.

Most covers contain personal liability cover which pays out if an other person injures themselves on your premises, or if you harm someone else’s belongings in their house.  This claim could be for up to one million pounds .

Some insurance covers have features such as raising your cover around Xmas when you are likely to have more presents in the house, also for a month either side of a family wedding so the wedding gifts are well insured. 

An additional benefit for families whose youngsters are away at university is when your home and contents insurance covers their personal possessions and household items where they are staying.  The cover may be for up to 12 percent of your total sum insured.

Running a business from home will need a further premium,  as a lot of contents policies omit cover for this.

The more cover you needthe more costly your payments. The sum you are covered for is the total the life insurance company will pay out, even if even though all your belongings are ruined.  So you deliberate  carefully and tot up the value of your items.

It’s hard to know the value of your possessions but you need to have an approximate idea in order to insure them properly.  Go through the whole house – loft, garage, shed, everywhere, and make a list of everthing.  Do some research, find out what your belongings would cost to replace.  It could be staggering!

This doesn’t  apply to bedding, towels or clothes for example, as wear and tear is subtracted from the replacement cost.  Cheap Life Insurance companies calculate the value of a jacket, for example, by deducting a fifth of the initial cost for each year you have owned it.

Insurers offer discounts for having an alarm system and for fitting locks to doors and windows, for example, or to people who have not made a claim in a required number of years.

Surviving the Current Financial Crisis

In the current climate of near certain worldwide economic crisis there has been a traumatic worldwide economic meltdown which has put the world economy as we know it at risk. There are many organisations who will not survive but there are some who will not only survive but will benefit in these unfortunate times. For instance our business in web design has increased recently because in an effort to reduce costs companies are turning to the internet to improve sales without incurring huge overheads. So companies like ours suddenly are in greater demand. However for the majority of the population it is a question of surviving and getting through it. If your business is on a sound financial foundation and you have reserves behind you then this will be beneficial in the coming years. You may even be able to reduce employee salaries for a period of time, rather than have lay-offs or even closing down, but whatever strategy you apply it will need to be with the agreement of the workforce because a company is dependent of the good will of its employees at such a time.

Cash flow

Most businesses go to the wall because of problems with cash flow. If there is not enough money coming it to pay for goods and services then it will not be long before a company goes into liquidation. Constant monitoring of the financial position is crucial. It is so easy to spend and not realise how much is leaking out and where it is all going. Keeping a tight control on costs is always a vital activity because that is what makes or breaks a company. More profits always come from reducing outgoings whether it’s reducing waste or cheaper purchasing or decreasing the workforce. I once listened to an audio tape on how to become wealthy and the one item to impact me was the advice to plug the leaks. Most people when running short of money try to find a way of making more money, but without a balance of reducing outgoings they never seem to resolve their problem. The simple reason is that when people earn more they spend more. If you imaging a bath with the tap turned on to fill it up. If the plug is securely in place the bath will fill up fairly quickly. But if the bath was full of holes no matter how much water you pour into the bath it will never fill up. The analogy is that the bath is your bank account, the tap is your earnings and the holes are your spending. Since listening to that tape, I have made a point of keeping expenses to a minimum at home and at work and every little sum of money coming in I see as a positive step to achieving wealth.

Avoid buying anything unless you absolutely have to or defer some necessary purchase for a few more months if possible. It’s amazing how you can manage without something for a period of time by using up existing or old stocks and making sure that waste is reduced to an absolute minimum. One of the things we teach early on is that being good with finances is often just a case of regular monitoring and being aware of what is going on with your finances.

Look for Discounts when Purchasing.

When you do have to procure goods to run the business, make sure you look out for bargains or negotiate for a better deal than you may have achieved previously. When times are tough, sales with no profits are better than nothing and there are some good deals to be had. One company I recently heard about sold a house for half the price when a customer came along with a cash offer. Our company does a lot of SEO article writing and part of that service requires server hosting. When the current economic crisis hit we looked at our costs and found we could cut the annual hosting costs by over 50% by moving some sites to other servers and closing down the ones that were no longer needed.

Look for Discounts when purchasing.

By taking a good long hard look at all of the business overheads I am sure it will be easy to identify those areas similar to ours where you have large outgoings. If those costs are essential to the functioning of the business then looking for better deals with other providers or renegotiate with current provider to maybe save thousands of euros. So in many ways the current economic climate could be seen as a good thing because it forces businesses to review their outgoings and get rid of the dead wood. In any business, the higher the outgoings, the smaller the profits. When there is an economic downturn or some loss of business unless you have unlimited capital set aside, it is vital to reduce spending otherwise the business will not survive. Most really successful businesses understand the value of controlling outgoings and constantly review costs, even when times are good. I always remember my mother and grandmother saying of someone who was well off, that they were rich because they never spent their money, they hung onto it.

Tighten your Belt – No need for Extravagent Spending

Although looking at reducing large overheads is one way to improve the viability of your company, another is to pay attention to the small amounts going out. It is so easy to think ‘Oh it’s only a few pounds’ but small amounts add up and can so easily get out of control. Remember that old saying ‘take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves’ I think it is so true. So cut out unnecessary spending, no perks on the business such as lunches or dinners to woo customers. They rarely actually need it if your business is offering honest value for money and top class services, and in most cases customers and prospects will appreciate you being prudent if it means you stay in business and continue as their valued suppliers. Bosses can lead the way by paying themselves less or taking a pay cut showing that they are willing to tighten their own belts.

Recently it was announced that Bruce Forsythe was taking a cut in salary for his position as the host of Strictly Come Dancing, one of the most popular programmes on TV at the moment. He believed that they were being paid too much and put his money where his mouth was.

Another major area of expense is salaries and the costs that go with them. If you employ a large number of people the overhead expenses are huge. However there is always a natural wastage where people leave or retire so without actively having to make people redundant there may be occasion to reduce the wages bill when times are hard. Efficiency and effectiveness of the people working in the company is critical and communicating with the workforce as to how they can reduce wastage and be more effective can be a rewarding policy.

One example from my previous work in organisations was when running a supervisors workshop. One of the delegates was complaining that when he needed to order supplies he had to sent the request up the line and wait until the senior manager had given the go ahead. As he was responsible for keeping supplies stocked and felt very frustrated at the time it took for him to get the approval he needed. I was shocked to hear that he was being so hampered in doing his job properly. So when I asked the question. ‘What’s to stop you ordering the goods yourself?’ after a long think, he said it had always been done that way. Nobody had questioned the procedure and whether it was still necessary to follow it. The outcome was that the he was given the go ahead to do the ordering himself and the senior manager was freed from one task he could happily do without.

Do Your Clients have Financial Stability?

If one of your customers is a very large company and they are source of the majority of your revenue then you are in a high risk position. It is a good idea to ensure that you have more than one high volume customer as well as lots of smaller ones so that you will be covered if one suddenly defaults on payment.

Find out the financial stability of your best customers. When the income of a customer falls then their ability to purchase goods and services is affected. If they are able to pay, then you will be able to pay your suppliers. There is nothing worse than doing a lot of work or selling a lot of stock to customer and then not getting paid. Situations like this can often cost you money, and that is the road to financial ruin, so be sure to be aware of your client’s economic situation as best as possible. We use the free Dunn and Bradstreet financial tracking service to identify any negative changes registered against any of our major clients

We do work for a firm that are a team of RTPI acredited town planning consultants who advise clients on local develoment framework planning and also specialise in waste and minerals planning for quarries and landfil site planning permissions, they had a large client go into liquidation with a bill of several thousand pounds outstanding. This is a lot of money for any business to have to write off but because of their healthy cashflow they were able to make it through.

Find out the financial viability of your best customers. When the income of a customer falls then their ability to buy goods and services is reduced. If they are able to pay on time, then you will be able to pay your suppliers. There is nothing worse than doing a lot of work or selling a lot of stock to customer and then not getting paid. Situations like this can often make the difference between success or failure. The cost to you in money and wasted effort and resources could be the road to financial ruin, so make sure you are aware of your client’s economic situation as much as possible. When the financial crisis happened one of our best customers suddenly switched to a two month payment plan which meant that we did not get any money from them for a month. When we protested the chief executive told his manager to find another suppler. There were a number of outstanding invoices worth thousands of pounds and we were powerless to do anything. Our overheads were compromised for that month but we were fortunate enough to have access to a reserve fund to tide us over. And yes we did get paid the whole amount over time.

Avoid Borrowing Money

When the world is in a financial meltdown it is better not to borrow money if you can help it. If you have already borrowed significant sums of money then make sure you talk to your bank and get the best deal on repayments you can. If it’s possible to repay a chunk of money to reduce the interest you are paying out then do so. To me interest is money Down the drain and is not good money management.

Having said all that, the interest rate in America is just over 1% and recently rates have been radically reduced in the UK. But that in itself is what caused this whole financial mess in the first place. People borrow money cheaply then re-lend it at a higher rate of interest and take the difference in profit. Once the interest rate rises to a more normal level they will bail out and take their billions off to buy an island somewhere while everyone else pays the price. I know that is an over simplification of the problem, but it serves to demonstrate that the greed of a few has caused the distress of millions of the majority.

In my property rental business, a few years ago I had to let a house at a reduced rent but found a good long term tenant. This meant that the income was only just covering my costs but subsequently, because of the drop in interest rates, the mortgage repayments on the property have been reduced by £150 a month. This means I have been able to realise a small profit and with that money I am reinvesting it in improvements to the house. Long term I see it as a good investment to maintain the standard and value of the property. So for some companies who have had to borrow money to stay afloat there is the benefit of lower interest rates to reduce the burden of repayments.

You Only Have to Make it Through

The world financial situation at the moment, I realise, is much more complicated than is indicated above. But the simple ways of dealing with crisis can often be the best option. Cut everything down to the bone and think about the days when people did not have such complicated lives. They managed their businesses without advisors to provide accountants services, a water cooler, coffee machines and other such luxuries that we often take for granted. They made do by either doing extra work themselves or just going without. Obviously as your business grows, or recovers, it doesn’t become economically viable to sit and trawl through tax return forms or to have to do a lot of extra research and administration yourself, so you can restore those facilities that help to make you money once you have recovered your initial position.

Now I am not suggesting that we should go back to the good old days. What I am saying is that we might think we can’t manage without all our gimmicks such as mobile phones that take photos, but the reality is that we can do more with a great deal less, as long as we put ourselves into the right frame of mind and think positively about what we can achieve rather than what we haven’t got. Obviously as your business grows, or recovers, it doesn’t become economically viable to sit and trawl through tax return forms or to have to do a lot of extra research and administration yourself, so you can reintroduce those facilities as and when you have recovered your financial equilibrium.

Think what the Victorians did with the limited resources they had at their disposal. The horse was the main mode of transport and they used the manure to heat cold- frames and managed to grow pineapples without any other form of heating. They did not have cars, computers, mobile phones or even phones. The railway was only just coming into being, and they did not even have electricity. But with their energy and ingenuity they conquered the world. The industrial revolution with their steam driven engines changed our economy for ever. In the past there was no such thing as designer and yet businesses survived|thrived.

Stay in a Positive Frame of Mind

By this I do not mean be in denial and pretend the world is not going through a tough time. But if you are continually thinking and worrying about the negative aspects of the financial situation, then you are likely to make it come true. Don’t forget you get what you wish for and by concentrating on something then it will work like a wish, so why not concentrate on ways of getting new customers, giving better value to your existing customers and how your company could offer new products or services to your existing customer base?

Conclusion

Although during this recession there is no doubt times are hard for people who have lost their jobs. No work, equals no money coming in, so how do people pay their bills and their mortgages? If consumers have been prudent during times of prosperity and they have a nest egg for a rainy day, then they can probably manage for a few months until they get another job. But if they are already up to their eyes in debt then they will face personal bankruptcy and could lose everything.

One economist had identified that in the past the higher the level of personal debt in an economy, the deeper the depression that followed. Prior to the current financial meltdown the level of personal debt was extremely high and the recession is a worldwide event.

In spite of all that, some people are managing quite well if they have jobs or some other type of income. One article I read recently said that the death rate reduced noticeably during recession and put that down to eating more healthily at home and not eating so much junk food. So OK we can’t afford to go out for meals as much, and things are more costly, but home prepared food is often better for you and sharing meals with the family is a way of coming together and communicating. So it’s not all bad. Good luck for a prosperous future.

Some Hints On How To Handle Bankruptcy

Summary
Bankruptcy is far from enjoyable but if you are having to face it, it is as well to know  the system. This article gives helpful information on how to cope with this situation

If you have serious debt you could be thinking about bankruptcy. It’s imperative to understand what bankruptcy entails and whether it’s the right solutionfor you.

Bankruptcy what does it mean? Bankruptcy is a transient legal stage. Whilst bankrupt, your non-essential assets for instance possessions, property including excess income are used to pay the debts you owe. After the bankruptcy period has ended, most debts are discharged. This may be an effectual method of removing  online debts that you might never be able to pay.

How long will bankruptcy last?. Bankruptcy usually lasts for 1 year. After this, you will be ‘discharged’ from your bankruptcy regardless of however much you still owe. You may be discharged earlier if you have co-operated fully with the Official Receiver. Still, in a marginal number of cases and if you’ve conducted yourself negligently, bankruptcy can last for much more than one year.

How would you be made bankrupt? A court pronounces you bankrupt by issuing a ‘bankruptcy order’ after it’s been given with a ‘bankruptcy petition’. Commonly this occurs in 1 of 2 ways.

1st you can make yourself bankrupt. A debtor’s petition form can be can be off the internet from the I S website or got from county courts with bankruptcy jurisdiction. The form should be filled in and then taken to the county court nearest to you, that has bankruptcy jurisdiction. A fee of 150 pounds and deposit of £360 is required at this time. This amount cannot be waived.

What does a creditor have to do to make you bankrupt?. Your creditors can serve a creditor’s petition if you owe them an unsecured debt over seven hundred pounds. Once bankruptcy proceedings have started, you have to co-operate completely even though it is a creditor’s petition and you dispute their claim.

Where can they issue a bankruptcy order? Bankruptcy petitions are generally put forward in a county related court near where you reside or trade.

Who would sort out your bankruptcy? As soon as a bankruptcy order has been made against you, the people you owe money to cannot chase you for repayment. Payment of the money owed becomes the duty of the trustee. An Official Receiver is agreed if you have no assets. If you do have assets, an Insolvency Practitioner will be agreed to function as trustee and sell your assets to pay off your creditors.

What occurs when you are bankrupt?. Once you are bankrupt, the Official Receiver, or appointed  trustee, can sell your assets to pay out your creditors. Although, particular goods are not classed as assets for this purpose, for instance: required household goods such as furniture, bedding, clothing and tools and equipment needed for work.

The Official Receiver make an assessment of your income taking into consideration expenses and determine if payments should be made to your creditors. You will probably be required to sign an ‘income payments agreement’ to pay fixed monthly payments from your income for four years.

Your requirements when you are bankrupt. You have a duty to: Give the Official Receiver details of your finances, assets and creditors, and take them to the Official Receiver with the pertinent paperwork, for example insurance policies and bank statements tell your trustee about any new assets or income, for the period of your bankruptcy stop using credit cards or store cards and bank or building society accounts, don’t apply for credit over five hundred pounds without informing the creditor that you are bankrupt, do not make payments direct to your creditors. You may also have to go to court and state why you’re in debt.

If you’re thinking about making yourself  debt or you’re being threatened with bankruptcy, it’s vital to take independent financial advice.

The Importance of Quality Website Design

In a highly competitive market, it is crucial for every business to have a presence on the web and the design of the website is very important to its success. The internet is often the first place that potential clients look when searching for a business to meet their requirements. A well designed, clearly presented and informative website will result in the desired first impression.

Sometimes businesses think that the cost of high quality website design will be unaffordable. While more and more business owners are gaining a better understanding of a good website and its advantages, to a lot of people it just seems too expensive and complicated an option. However, it is possible to design and develop a quality bespoke website from as little as a few hundred pounds. A website can pay for itself time and time again in the increased sales revenue that it can produce for the business.

As well as website design, a professional company will also be able to offer SEO or search engine optimisation services. It is a fact that potential customers will rarely venture beyond the first page of results produced by a search engine, so it is important to make sure that the website promoting your business will be included on the first page of the search results for your target search terms.

You should aim for well designed and structured web pages and use key phrases in the text that you think your customers would search for. In general, content rich sites have been shown to perform better in search engine results, and it is important to achieve the correct balance between search engine results and designing website pages that are easy to read and navigate. However, the single biggest factor in determining your rankings in the search engines will be the amount and quality of incoming links that your site has pointing to it.

For a website to be an effective marketing and selling tool, both the website design and how it is marketed are important considerations. Making sure that the site is optimised for SEO and getting quality one way links from relevant sites are all factors that will help to ensure the success of your website and business. A professional website development company has the design skills and online marketing expertise to create a site that will be a successful selling tool for years into the future.

iPhone Insurance That Protects from Theft

I was on vacation with my family having a great time until theives got hold of our beach bag. We were having a great time visiting all the local attractions until we were robbed. We didn’t even notice that someone had gone into our bag and stolen our Iphone, my son’s mp3 player and my daughter’s ipod until we went to get something out of it. We were all really upset. It would have cost over five hundred pounds to replace them and we couldn’t afford that. They were all new items and I was steaming mad.

My wife reminded me that she had been smart enough to insure them all. Thank goodness. So we called the insurance company. The customer service agent was really friendly and helped walk us through the entire process of filing a claim for each of the items. It didn’t take long and she was able to tell us exactly what we needed to do. We could even go on line to their website and track our iPhone insurance claim and within 48 hours, we had replacements. It even covered all the phone calls that the thief made after stealing our iPhone. I was so glad they covered fraudulent calls because there were over a hundred of dollars worth made in the first couple of hours. The iPhone insurance company was so helpful and were easy to deal with.

We had a long flight home and the kids would have been completely bored if they didn’t have their electronic devices to listen to music and play games. In fact, we couldn’t have boarded the plane without the electronic ticket information I had stored on our Iphone.

We even got all our text messages and the numbers we had stored in our address books because of their great address book back up plan. I have never been so impressed with service and so happy to have insurance as I was that day. Our vacation could have been completely ruined; we would have remembered this vacation for all the wrong reasons if it wasn’t for the insurance.

Instead, we all remember it as the best vacation ever and I am the first person to tell all my friends and business associates about how iPhone insurance saved our vacation spending money. I always knew that my wife was smart, now I know she is a genius! Now I make sure that getting insurance is the first thing I look into when we buy a new electronic device and for under six pounds a month I can testify that it is money well spent. It saved us hundreds, a lot of headaches, and lots of trouble.

Info About Everything

Debt in a downturn: debt management can help

Responding to recent debt-related comments from Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, debt management company Gregory Pennington reminded consumers that tackling their debt problems is more important than ever in an economic downturn.

New analysis, states the Liberal Democrats’ website, reveals that personal debt has risen by a total of one trillion pounds in the past eleven years – a startling ten million pounds for every hour the Labour government has been in power. Repayments to that collective personal debt stand at almost £95 billion per year, or £3,000 per second.

“Much of that debt, of course, is in the form of mortgage debt,” said a spokesperson for the debt management company. “According to the latest figures from the Bank of England (Lending to individuals: September 2008), individuals now owe a total of around £1,460 billion – and a full £1,220 billion of that total is secured against dwellings.”

“Mortgage debt is still a serious issue, with many homeowners having over-extended themselves in order to get a foot on the housing ladder. Even so, taking on a debt to acquire an asset is fundamentally different from borrowing in order to finance a lifestyle, or to pay for food, gas or petrol, as many people have grown used to doing in recent years.

“After all, the vast majority of non-homeowners still need to make monthly payments, in the form of rent. In other words, a mortgage debt needn’t actually add to an individual’s monthly financial burden – in fact, their monthly mortgage payments may well cost less than the rent payments they would need to make to live in a comparable property.

“Even so, Mr Clegg raises some valid points. Britain’s level of personal debt is, as he puts it, ‘unrivalled anywhere in the world outside of the US’, and this can be particularly dangerous in the context of a global economic downturn. Clearly, people with higher levels of personal debt are more at risk of running into severe financial problems more or less as soon as their income drops. People with little or no debt are, in general, much better placed to cope with any financial problems they may encounter as a result of the global downturn.

“As a debt management company, we specialise in debt management plans that help people bring their unsecured debts under control. But debt management is by no means the only way of coping with (and reducing) high levels of unsecured debt. People with debt problems may find they have a range of debt solutions to choose from, and should talk to a professional adviser as soon as possible – the sooner they do this, the more likely they are to get through any financial problems that may lie ahead.

“In the longer term,” the spokesperson for the debt management company concluded, “we wholeheartedly support Mr Clegg’s call for financial literacy to play a much bigger part in education. As he says, ‘maths for life is more important than trigonometry for most people’ – financial education is clearly a key part of helping future generations avoid the kind of debt problems that so many of today’s adults are facing.”