Latest Debt News

Debt management companies face improved regulation

06 Jan 10
The UK government is launching a consultation into the procedures of debt management companies. Kensington Financial Management Consultants welcome further industry regulation and are members of the Debt Resolution Forum – an organisation designed to increase standards within the industry.

Money problems top 2009 concerns

17 Dec 09
A recent survey conducted by Samaritans indicates that 48% of the UK population has worried about their money problems and debt in 2009.

Christmas moneysaving tips

01 Dec 09
A festive selection of tips to help you avoid debt this Christmas.

Bad credit card debts to increase

09 Nov 09
Bad credit card debts in the UK are set to soar to 9%, according to a recent report. As bad debts increase, the borrowing rates on cards may also soar and more consumers will seek debt consolidation solutions.

Half term holiday price hike

28 Oct 09
Brits planning to take a break with the family this half term, be warned: holidays taken during this school holiday will be 104 per cent more expensive on average than holidays taken a week later, with some families facing a premium of up to 249 per cent.

Debt haunts Brits this Halloween

26 Oct 09
British parents will spend a total of £200 million on Halloween this year, which works out at over £15 per family on average.

Government announces curbs on Credit Card dodgy practices

25 Oct 09
Proposed regulations of the credit card industry set to end dodgy practices and benefit consumers

Students call in Money Doctors

22 Oct 09
Students are lining up outside surgeries, but not to rid themselves of freshers' flu. They are taking advice from Money Doctors on how to handle their finances while at university and avoid getting into too much debt.

Ban on self certified mortgages to make system fairer

21 Oct 09
Lenders made responsible for assessing borrower's ability to pay off mortgage

Financial fears for Fergie

20 Oct 09
The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson is reported to be having money troubles as her health and lifestyle company looks likely to fold

Unemployed at greater risk of high premiums

19 Oct 09
Unemployed are being penalized for spending more time at home

Office of Fair Trading plans study into online pricing

16 Oct 09
Dubious online pricing is to come under the scrutiny of the OFT in a new study

Pensioners use equity release to pay off debts

15 Oct 09
One in three retired people are using equity release to pay off credit card and loan debts, research has shown

Brits spend 1.7 billion pounds on pets

14 Oct 09
Pet-loving Brits fork out a massive £1.7 billion a year on cat and dog food alone.

National Identity Fraud Prevention Week Launches:

13 Oct 09
Research Reveals Shocking Statistics for Businesses and Individuals

British Airways in disputes over pay cut plans

12 Oct 09
Struggling airline British Airways is planning to slash the pay of new cabin crew joining the airline by several thousand pounds a year under drastic moves to cut costs. High-flyer's rates of pay could be cut to as little as £14,000 a year, a drop of up to 50% on current wage rates for cabin crew staff.

Conservatives plan to freeze public sector pay

11 Oct 09
Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, today announced that all public sector pay would be frozen for a year from 2011 if the Conservatives win the forthcoming general election. The move will affect teachers, doctors, nurses and police officers.

New report shows half of adults in debt have a mental health problem

10 Oct 09
New research published today states that one in two British adults in debt may also have a mental health problem.

Postal Strike may lead many into debt

09 Oct 09
As the post office workers ballot confirms strike action is likely, leading finance firms advise consumers to take action to prevent extra charges leading them into a spiral of debt.

Worldwide hotel rates drop

08 Oct 09
Hotels.com has revealed that worldwide hotel prices have dropped by an average of 17% during the last 12 months.

Council Criticised for bankruptcy

07 Oct 09
Manchester City Council has been criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman for using bankruptcy proceedings against a resident over a £1,071 unpaid council tax bill.

Ten Thousand Hotmail Addresses Hacked

07 Oct 09
Up to 21 million people who use email services could potentially be at risk of fraud after a massive security breach where passwords were acquired illegally. The scam started with Hotmail, but reports today claim that it has now spread to Gmail, Yahoo!Mail, Comcast, AOL and Earthlink.

October most dangerous month on the roads

05 Oct 09
October is officially the most dangerous month on Britain's roads with October 20th being the worst day

Bankruptcy for Baywatch Babe

04 Oct 09
Pamela Anderson, the former Baywatch beach bunny, is facing bankruptcy after racking up a string of bills and debts to the tune of $1.2 million.

Scam mail costs the UK 3 billion pounds

03 Oct 09
Scam mail costs the UK a whopping £3 billion a year and is ripping off the nation's most vulnerable people. Organised criminal gangs are trading "sucker lists" with the personal details of thousands of Britons considered susceptible to fraud, according to the director general of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

House Prices Back to 2008 Levels

02 Oct 09
According to recently released figures, house prices are now at the same level as they were a year ago

The True cost of Muscle and Joint Pain

01 Oct 09
A new study today finds that musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) account for nearly half (49%) of all absences from work and 60% of permanent work incapacity in the European Union.

Couples head to eBay for wedding bargains

30 Sep 09
UK Couple buy wedding reception for a song on ebay

Blairs smile for sale

29 Sep 09
Cash-strapped Brits could take a leaf out of Tony Blair's book and get creative with money-making ideas.

Britons desperately in debt try selling their own kidneys

28 Sep 09
More and more British people are turning to selling their own organs to try to get out of debt

Swine Flu Vaccine Approved

25 Sep 09
As the EU grants licenses for 2 Swine Flu vaccines, mass vaccinations likely to begin in October

Bankruptcy tourists choose Britain

24 Sep 09
Hundreds of debt-riddled Germans are arriving in Britain to take advantage of lenient bankruptcy laws which scrap their debts in a year.

Tube prices on the up

23 Sep 09
Tube passengers are set to be stung with price hikes on tickets due to a dramatic drop in the number of users of our capital's Underground.

Banks named and shamed

22 Sep 09
Britain's high street banks clearly have a lot of unhappy customers. They have come under fire from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in a damning report announcing the latest stats on customer complaints.

Brit borrowing almost doubles

18 Sep 09
Brits insatiable appetite for debt sends borrowing soaring

Postal strike to cause financial chaos

17 Sep 09
Thousands of Brits across the country and are set to face financial misery because of the continuing postal strikes

Rio Holidays in Wales

15 Sep 09
His name is Rio and he dances on the sands - in Prestatyn.

Debt Agencies Swamped

15 Sep 09
Destitute Brits are swamping debt advice agencies

Personal debt falls for first time in 16 years

14 Sep 09
Personal debt falls for first time on record, but Brits still under strain of debt

Britain poised for lottery prediction

11 Sep 09
The nation will be tuned into Channel 4 tonight to see how TV illusionist Derren Brown appeared to do the impossible and 'predict' this week's lottery numbers live.

Personal debt falls for first time in 16 years

11 Sep 09
Personal debt falls for first time on record, but Brits still under strain of debt.

Car scrappage scheme working

11 Sep 09
August sees car sales soar by 6 per cent, thanks to Government scrappage incentive

UK Recession coming to an end

10 Sep 09
The green shoots of recovery are starting to appear

That Impulse Buy could reveal a lot about you

08 Sep 09
Being careless with cash is linked to other impulsive behaviour such as over-eating, smoking and infidelity.

Pensioners miss out on benefits

04 Sep 09
Britain's poverty-stricken pensioners are missing out on state funds available to them as one in four do not know what benefits they are entitled to once they reach retirement age.

Cost of going back to school soars

02 Sep 09
The cost of going back to school has never been higher for parents, as British kids are returning to the classroom carrying around £400 worth of gadgets in their bags.

Struggling Rail Commuters given false hope

01 Sep 09
British rail commuters still set to struggle despite 0.4% drop in train fares next year.

Don't DIY yourself into debt

24 Aug 09
DIY may not be the money-saver that you think it is: hard-up handymen may find themselves with a hefty bill to fix their botched jobs.

2 million hide debts from partners

18 Aug 09
Almost 2 million Brits hide debts and extravagant purchases from their partners: the recession is fuelling a growing fear and embarrassment about money matters.

Self-employed hardest hit by recession

14 Aug 09
Britain's self-employed workers have been hardest hit by unemployment during the recession.

Britain's shoppers need more protection

14 Aug 09
More protection is needed for shoppers who pay for goods in advance then lose out when the business goes bust.

Young people shrug off recession depression

12 Aug 09
Young Brits are more optimistic in the face of the recession than the grumpy, grey-haired older generation, adopting a responsible outlook towards money to avoid falling into financial woes.

Fraud rates rise

07 Aug 09
A report into UK fraud trends reveals a frightening 43 per cent jump in the number of victims of impersonation during the first half of this year.

Debt On Your Door-step

07 Aug 09
Doorstep lenders are under fire for imposing extortionate interest rates on impoverished British families, often up to a whopping 545 per cent APR (Annual Percentage Rate).

Women more thrifty than men during recession

18 Jul 09
Recession-savvy women are more likely than men to cut back on spending to survive the credit crunch.

Brits cooking with Gas - for 10 per cent less!

18 Jul 09
The recent announcement that British Gas has cut an average 10 per cent off its standard electricity prices will come as a welcome relief to recession-battered Brits who are still struggling to make ends meet. The move from the biggest supplier of electricity to homes in Britain will help 4.5 million of its customers during the on-going economic crisis.

Minimum wage to rise

12 Jul 09
The government has announced that Britain's minimum wage will rise by 7p, or 1.2 per cent, to £5.80 an hour.

Brits Are 25 per cent Better Off Despite The Recession

08 Jul 09
Recent figures reveal that UK homeowners are 25 per cent better off than they were in 2008 due to record low interest rates brought in as a result of the recession, slashing mortgage costs for thousands of households.

Holidays Scorch Brits Financially

01 Jul 09
Rising overseas bank card and transaction fees look set to leave people in the red this holiday season. A recent study has found that British consumers are charged a total of around £244 million per year on holiday cash withdrawals, which means the average family can waste up to £300 of their precious spending money on charges alone!

Government calls for clamp down on aggressive collections of debts

01 Jul 09
Complaints about debt collection agencies have rocketed since the recession began, according to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). They are accused of using over-aggressive tactics to chase debts, threatening court action unfairly and even targeting the wrong people in many cases.

The Recession Hangs Tough but So Can You!

22 Jun 09
City analysts are all in agreement that the UK economy may very well have come through the toughest part of the recession, but they also believe the home-strait to financial stability will be a slow process, with no real signs of recovery expected until next year (2010), at the earliest.

Debt News - Mums Feel a Billion Dollars this Mother's Day

18 Jun 09
Figures reveal Britons borrow an estimated £1.4 billion per year in loans to finance plastic surgery, and this is set to increase in 2009 as nearly one million consumers will take out loans for a nip and tuck, with the majority of these being British Mums.

Repossession Reprieve - Too Little Too Late

16 Jun 09
Gordon Brown's recent announcement, that mortgage repayments can be deferred for up to two years, was cold comfort for the thousands of people who have already had their homes repossessed.

Money Management is 'Methaphorical Medication' for Mental Health

14 Jun 09
Sufferers of stress, anxiety and depression are reporting a marked improvement to their mental health when they seek advice about managing their debts

Insured against swine flu?

08 Jun 09
With the increase in cases of swine flu and holidaymakers in fear over travelling to Mexico and other high-risk destinations, many might assume that their travel insurance policies will cover them for trip cancellations. However, it has become apparent that policy terms and conditions vary from one provider to the next.

UK gears up for car scrappage scheme

01 Jun 09
This week sees the launch of the controversial "cash for bangers" car scrappage scheme, whereby owners of cars and vans 10 years-old or more will get a £2,000 hand-out if they trade in their old motor and buy a brand new one.

UK consumer confidence hits half-year high

01 Jun 09
Turns out it's not all doom and gloom - consumer confidence crept up during May as Brits feel more optimistic about the future state of the nation's economy.

Brits Unite Against Debt With Credit Card Amnesty

01 Jun 09
As the total UK personal debt reaches an eye watering £1.4trillion, Kensington Financial Management Consultants are urging the public to take stock of their finances and ditch the debt for good with a nationwide Credit Card Amnesty.

Debt Consolidation Demand Set to Sky Rocket

22 May 09
It's not looking good: rumours of up to 40,000 job cuts in the City, predictions of repossession rises, hikes in household bills, and rising consumer debt.

Petrol prices to peak over summer

21 May 09
British drivers are being warned that petrol prices will rocket this summer, reaching as much as £1.15 per litre

Debt News - Cash for bangers Car Scrappage Scheme warning

18 May 09
This week (w/c 18th May) sees the launch of the controversial "cash for bangers" car scrappage scheme, where owners of cars and vans 10 years old or more will get a £2,000 hand out if they trade in their old motor and buy a brand new one.

Brits overwrought and overdrawn

18 Apr 09
Overdraft dependence 'is a sign of serious debt problems' according to the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS). It has announced that large numbers of penniless Brits are regularly dipping into their overdraft for everyday expenditures, rather than keeping it for emergencies only.

Bankrupt Britain

12 Apr 09
Insolvency figures for the first three months of this year reveal that we are well on the way to becoming 'Bankrupt Britain'.

Debt News - Brits Bury Heads In The Sand Despite Worrying Budget Announcements

01 Mar 09
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has acknowledged that Britain is facing the deepest recession since the Second World War as he slashed his economic forecasts in his budget speech this week.

Debt Advice - Playground tactics

07 Feb 09
An entrepreneur from Manchester is heading back to school - only this time he is there to educate rather than to learn.

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