Homeowners must be wary of repossession

Over the past couple of years the world of many homeowners has been rocked because they have suddenly found themselves threatened with the loss of their home through repossession. Thousands of struggling homeowners have indeed ended up losing their homes to repossession, whilst some have taken action early and managed to avoid losing their homes. Read more

Tags: anyone, busy getting court, Citizen's Advice Bureau, afresh, Mortgages

No need to take complaints to FOS through claims handling firms

Officials from the Financial Ombudsman Service have recently reiterated that there is no need for consumers to enlist the help of claims handling firms in order to take a complaint to the FOS. Read more

Tags: personal finance, finance claims, Financial Ombudsman Service, Ministry of Justice, Citizen's Advice Bureau

A guide to benefits for pensioners

As we grow older most of us hope that we will be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement with enough cash to get us through and allow us to spend some quality time with our loved ones. Read more

Tags: pensioner benefits, Age Concern, Attendance Allowance, Citizen's Advice Bureau, Help the Aged, Guarantee Credit and Savings Credit

CAB: People struggling to meet basic living costs

The Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB) has said that more people are seeking help because they are struggling to pay basic household bills as the credit crunch tightens.

A spokesperson for the charity said the combination of soaring household expenses and rising housing costs is putting extra pressure on people’s budgets.

The CAB said that the number of people approaching the organisation for advice on mortgage arrears problems rose by 35 per cent in the first two months of 2008 compared with the same period last year.

Many people are also having difficulties paying for essentials such as gas, electricity, water and council tax.

“We believe these trends reflect recent increases in the cost of living, suggesting a significant number of households are struggling to meet their most basic living costs,” said the spokesperson.

According to the Office for National Statistics, UK consumer inflation reached its highest level in 13 months in April due to high food and fuel costs.

Tags: office, mortgage, spokesperson, Citizen's Advice Bureau, credit crunch tightens, statistics uk, number of households, economics

CAB recommends teen finance lessons

Financial lessons for Britain’s teenagers have received strong support from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB).

With debt levels now outweighing national GDP, the bureau said that teaching young people how to budget more effectively was “fundamental”.

The CAB issued the statements in reaction to the government’s announcement last month that a new subject covering financial issues is to be introduced into the secondary school curriculum.

A spokesperson said: “We very much welcome the move to improve people’s skills in personal finance, because what we know that a lot of debt problems are caused, at least in part, by a lack of understanding and a lack of confidence in dealing with money matters.

“There are a whole variety of ways of engaging young people of that age with the issues,” they added. “There are many different methods, ranging from drama to a whole load of other things. So I think that there is no shortage of good ways of making this a subject that young people want to know more about.”

Also supporting the new lessons is recent research from the Institute for Public Policy Research, which suggested that a couple with two children could be as much as £32,000 wealthier due to sound decisions made stemming from an improved financial education.

Tags: variety, Citizen's Advice Bureau, Financial lessons, Institute, lack, couple, Britain's teenagers, financial issues

Citizens Advice urges caution with consolidation loans

With record numbers of consumers struggling to pay off unsecured loans, a consolidation loan can sometimes be seen as a reasonable way out, but Citizens Advice
has warned debtors to consider all options before signing up to the agreement.

Speaking to The Observer, Peter Tutton, a social policy officer specialising in credit and debt for Citizens Advice, stated that an alarming number of people were signing up to consolidation loans when in fact, these agreements could make them worse off financially.

“There are problems with secured consolidation loans – we’re seeing lots of evidence that where people do get into [financial] trouble, they’re being pushed into consolidation,” said Mr Tutton.

Problems arise when consumers take out a secured consolidation loan for an unsecured debt and find that if they cannot meet the repayments, their home is now at risk.

James Ketchell, a spokesman for the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, added that in some circumstances, consolidation loans could be beneficial as the interest rate is often lower than with an unsecured loan.

Having said that, he stressed that in general, it was only a solution for five or six years, since consumers usually then built up more credit card debt and personal loans and put themselves into an even worse situation than before.

Consumers are advised to seek independent advice if they are concerned about their financial status and to consider all of their options before signing up to a fiscal agreement.

Tags: financial trouble, finance, risk, debt, Peter Tutton, service, independent advice