Thursday, January 8, 2009

Debt Problems? Read this if you're thinking of bankruptcy

By Phillip Evans

25 per cent of the UK adult population are saying their financially out of control with a major number, around one million three hundred thousand people, admitting their finances are entirely unmanageable, a report by the insurer AXA says.

The insurer goes on to say that over a million UK residents have borrowed too much credit and are now struggling to keep up their repayments, with less than 4 million struggling to manage their credit card bills.

500,000 people have been threatened with the bailiffs or repossession and consumer county court judgements (CCJs) has reached their highest level since the start of 2007's third quarter.

The public interest Company that manages the register of judgements on behalf of the Lord Chancellor has reported that within England and Wales County Court Judgements rose by 17.4 per cent year on year to 223,519, its highest level since the beginning of 2007 and from the second quarter of 2008 this is a 25 per cent increase.

Individual insolvencies in England and Wales increased to 27,087 in the third quarter of 2008, up 8.8 per cent from 24,893 in the previous quarter.

Bankruptcies and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) have increased 12 and 3 percent respectively.

The treacherous economic conditions for people and business has created a rise in corporate and personal insolvency and the worsening economy is making the prospect of a further rise in insolvency further predictable through 2009.

It was hoped that the SIVA, planned for release in early 2009 would help with some of the debt burden, however, the Insolvency Service has just abandoned the concept.

Where an IVA needed 75 per cent of creditors to accept the proposal for insolvency a Simplified IVA or SIVA only required that a majority accept the terms. The SIVA was intended to be launched next year with a creditor cap of 75,000.

The British borrower drowning in debt not wishing to go bankrupt really should consider both the individual voluntary arrangement or a more informal debt management program to help get your debt problems under control. - 15224

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