Statistics 1st Qtr 2008

1,395 Sequestrations in Scotland in the first quarter, I bet that will go up for the 2nd, thanks to the change in law which means it only lasts a year, like England now and if you have low income / assets you can declare yourself bankcrupt without waiting for someone else to do it to you.
Woo hoo.

ClaireLR wrote: »

The decrease of 13.2% from a year ago does surprise me I must admit.

I think at this time last year we were still in the tail end of the big surge of bankruptcies that came when all the laws were changed to allow BR to be one year etc.



From the brown line (bankruptcies) you can see that things have stabilised a bit after that big peak, and are maybe starting to pick up slightly again.

EDIT: Snap with Waspeze's comments.

Certainly looks that way. Edited my post, as I said "blue line" when I meant the brown one.:o

BBC website says insolvencies have increased slightly. All caused by me I expect...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7378183.stm

Interesting take on these figures and the general situation.

Debt Figures Could Be Eye Of The Storm

Insolvency Figures Mask True Extent Of Debt Struggle

Payplan, the free debt solutions service, has responded to today’s figures on the number of people that became insolvent during the first quarter of 2008 with advice for people in debt. The figures released by The Insolvency Service this morning, show that 15,651 people went bankrupt, with a further 9,614 taking out individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) during the first three months of this year.

These figures are in line with ones reported for the previous quarter, but are considerably lower than for the same period of 2007, with IVA numbers dropping by around 22%.

John Fairhurst, Managing Director of Payplan, said:

“Although there has not been a big increase in the number of people going bankrupt, our clients are far worse off than they were this time last year.”

Debt advisers at the service have seen a significant change in the affordability of clients’ debt. Expenditure has increased faster than income resulting in an average drop of 14 per cent in the money available to service debts.

Mr Fairhurst went on:

“The latest figures show that people are managing to soldier on for a bit longer, but it seems that it will be only a matter of time before we see a big jump in these numbers. The rising costs of essentials such as; food, petrol, gas and electricity, is putting increasing pressure on those who were already struggling to make ends meet.”

Currently, only five per cent of the people who contact Payplan for help go down an insolvency route.