Debt up 7.3%

baby_boomer

Telegraph

"..total outstanding UK consumer debt - including credit cards, loans and mortgages - has increased by 7.3 per cent to £1,444 billion over the past year, up from £1,346 billion in June 2007....."

Average per household is £58.5K. Grant Thornton comments that personal insolvencies, "will climb in the next six to 12 months as the fallout from the credit crisis shows its true colours."

Those gas price hikes aren't going to help.

There's plenty of pain ahead for the banks who will continue to be wary of loosening their lending criteria.

And what was it that idiot from Savills said about purchasing power not going down :rolleyes: ?

Pobby

I wonder about these figures. Is it that people are borrowing just to cover there day to day spending or is it that we are still in the days of ``I`m so worth it `` spending?

wymondham

I would imagine more and more people are living off credit for day to day bills......

carolt

Rising bills, falling real wages and - maybe most importantly - falling house prices and tighter lending criteria leading to less MEWing.

MyOpinion

I always wonder how meaningful these figures are, it seems to me there are a lot of factors that can skew them. There will be a lot of people who can comfortably service million pound plus mortgages, similar story on credit cards how much does does tarting impact on these figures, I have quite a bit of credit card dept I could happily pay off but my money is working harder in a savings account and I'm not that much of a tart.

Dithering_Dad

MyOpinion wrote: »

I always wonder how meaningful these figures are, it seems to me there are a lot of factors that can skew them. There will be a lot of people who can comfortably service million pound plus mortgages, similar story on credit cards how much does does tarting impact on these figures, I have quite a bit of credit card dept I could happily pay off but my money is working harder in a savings account and I'm not that much of a tart.

I think the same thing. A more interesting survey would be how much debt is carried over to the following month on a credit card. There must be millions of business people who put their expenses (hotel bills, food, etc) on a credit card and pay it off at the end of the month when they receive their expenses payments.

I sometimes can have anything up to £3k on my credit card as expenses, especially when you have to stay in London hotels at +£100 per night for a month.

Jumping_Bean

It would also be useful to know the increase in previous years so it could be compared.

Generali

Jumping_Bean wrote: »

It would also be useful to know the increase in previous years so it could be compared.

I think the BoE compiles these numbers.

Jumping_Bean

Mozkowitz wrote: »

Pretty much, as everyone knows newspaper thrive on shock journalism and never bother with the counterpoint. Some people use the option to credit to their advantage and it has a beneficial effect on mass economy, not a negative one.

I don't think when talking about consumer debt that very many people on average use it to their advantage. Except if the advantage is to buy stuff they wouldn't normally be able to afford. I also don't think that the huge amount of consumer credit rolling around in our economy has a beneficial effect. IMO it's just the economy borrowing from its own future and just like the individuals doing the borrowing, at some point it needs to be paid back or written off.

WTF?_2

baby_boomer wrote: »

Telegraph

"..total outstanding UK consumer debt - including credit cards, loans and mortgages - has increased by 7.3 per cent to £1,444 billion over the past year, up from £1,346 billion in June 2007....."

Average per household is £58.5K. Grant Thornton comments that personal insolvencies, "will climb in the next six to 12 months as the fallout from the credit crisis shows its true colours."

Those gas price hikes aren't going to help.

To paraphrase Austin Powers; As long as the economy is in good shape and jobs are secure and plentiful .. No problem - We'll be sound as a pound!

amcluesent

Crisis? What crisis? Gorrdunnn is making the right decisions for the long term!

FACT For recent graduates with multi £10k debt and now dwindling chances of anything but a mcjob and no chance of a home loan for years, declaring bankruptcy looks like a good option.