The Bank of England issues monthly stats including Money and Credit stats. Generally there is a 2 month lag on the stats being available. The stats for October 20 which were released at the end of November 20 show:-
- Households have repaid £600 million of debt in October, the same figure as in September, totalling to £15.6 billion since the end of March.
- Credit card debt has fallen by 13% over the past year
- Borrowing using credit cards, overdrafts and personal loans fell by 5.6% annually in October
- Meanwhile Mortgage approvals for house purchased increased to 97,500 (the highest since September 2007)
Increased Mortgage approvals can be put down to people taking advantage of stamp duty holidays and low interest rates to move or improve their homes. It would be expected to see demand fall as the government incentive is removed next year.
Covid tales of two halves
It is clear that the financial impact by the pandemic for many has not been equal. On one hand you may have someone who once had a good regular income, healthy savings and a spotless credit history now defaulting on their credit commitments through no fault of their own. Whilst others who have managed to remain employed, some even picking up extra shifts and over time have found themselves with more disposable income and managing to clear off some of the debts they may have been struggling with pre covid.
This does provide a challenge for lenders who have a duty of care towards the consumer as we emerge from the crisis. They must find a way of understanding individual circumstances to better serve them moving forward.
Who can you talk to about debt Issues?
Knowing you owe sum you cannot afford to repay can be very scary. The problem will not go away and will only get worse if you ignore the problem. Don’t panic, it’s important that you look after yourself and keep calm.
The Money and Pension Service “MAPS” have secured £38M to fund extra debt advice. This includes £7.5M which has been advanced to StepChange, Christians Against Poverty and Payplan. A further funding stream has been targeted at creating 500 new jobs for debt advisers and this is in both charities and commercial providers.
This links through to Money Advice Service who will help signpost individuals to relevant organizations to get help. They can be contacted via:-
Webchat between the hours of 8am and 6pm – https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en#js-chat. Whatsapp – 07701 342744 and Telephone – 0800 138 7777
The Debt Advisor has been in existence for 21 years and we have gained a reputation as the “go to” practice for debt advice and debt solutions and most importantly, we are authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority “FCA”.
The FCA register will let you know if the organisation has permission to provide debt advice and are able to help with debt adjusting which is the ability to negotiate with your creditors.
Get Debt Advice Today
For full debt advice and whether any of our available debt solutions would be the best option for you to get out of debt, you can speak to one of our advisors directly on 0800 085 1825 or arrange a callback.
The Debt Advisor Ltd is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This means we are able to offer debt advice and deliver both formal and informal solutions. All debt solutions need to be carefully considered and you must take independent debt advice. We hope that the information and debt advice on this site including Frequently Asked Questions, will help inform you.
