REPOSSESSIONS Friday, 2nd May 2008

25,264 people have already fallen victim to the insolvency epidemic in 2008 with 9,614 Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) and 15,651 bankruptcies reported.


Individual insolvencies could reach 101,056 by the end of the year.

For these people, insolvency means they have already reached financial stalemate. For others, the current economic climate in the UK is quickly pushing them towards this fate.

Today alone, a further 292 people will fall victim to insolvency today and 74 homes will be repossessed. The credit crunch is not the only problem facing consumers. The cost of living has shot up by 9%, more than double the average salary increase of just 3.4% across the UK, which leads to five million consumers spending more than they earn every month.

Consumers are facing prices hikes from every angle with annual energy bills (up 13% or £1,114), food (up 11% or £324 a year) and mortgages (up 9% or £1,020 a year) and most recently petrol prices up by 25% to 109.8p per litre.

Consumers are being hit from every angle with price hikes across all areas from energy to mortgages right down to a 25% increase in the cost of petrol. This may be making many people feel that their finances are simply out of control.

If people find themselves in financial difficulty the worst thing they can do is ignore the problem and hope it goes away, as it won’t. Banks have a duty to help people in financial hardship and free debt advice is readily available from organisations such as the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, National Debtline and Citizen’s Advice. People need to start taking action before they reach financial breaking point.