Credit card borrowing increased in December

Figures that have been released recently have shown that for the month of December the level of credit card borrowing increased, leading to an increase in overall consumer borrowing. Read more

Tags: end, consumer debt, Credit card, consumer spending, bank of england, sector, Value added tax, small increase

Tough year ahead for British retailers

Officials from the British Retail Consortium have recently stated that despite the encouraging sales figures seen by retailers over the Christmas and New Year period most retailers would be facing yet another very tough year over the course of 2010. Read more

Tags: economics, Retail Consortium, consumer spending, Marks & Spencer, High Street, Deficit, Socioeconomics

Improvement in High Street sales seen in June

According to recently released figures June saw an improvement in High Street sales levels, partly fuelled by consumers heading out to buy new clothes following the short but significant heat wave seen during that period. Read more

Tags: British Chambers of Commerce, high street sales, addition, High Street, official, consumer spending

Consumer spending hits fresh lows

Recently released figures have shown that consumer spending in the UK has hit fresh lows, with household spending falling to its lowest level since 1980. Read more

Tags: consumer confidence, office, consumer spending, Office for National Statistics, National Statistics, spending money, return, british economy

Negative retails figures announced for May

Recent figures that were released with regards to retail spending have shown that whilst there were some encouraging signs of increased spending shown over the Easter period retail gains have slipped back down again for May. Read more

Tags: recession, Distributive, confederation of british industries, year, consumer spending, retailers, CBI official

BCC states that interest rate must be cut

After several months where the interest rate has been left on hold at 5% by the Monetary Policy Committee and the Bank of England, the British Chambers of Commerce is now calling for action, stating that the base rate has to be cut in order to ensure that the economy does not grind to a halt. The government is facing tough decisions when it comes to the base rate, as the nation is going through a period of stagflation, where the economy has slowed down and stagnated and the level of inflation is soaring way out of control. Read more

Tags: interest rates, interest rate, bank of england, British Chambers of Commerce, base, chelsea building society, consumer spending, UK unemployment

Increasing consumer credit leading to more debt

The increasing availability of consumer credit which has caused the recent boom in the UK economy is contributing to rising levels of debt.

That is according to R3 (the Association of Business Recovery Professionals), which has suggested that various financial services have been “tripping over themselves to lend money”, which in turn has resulted in the inadequate checking of the suitability of borrowers.

Vice president Nick O’Reilly said that IVAs and indebtedness are on the increase because “the level of personal consumer debt in the UK has grown significantly over the last four to five years – in fact the main boom in the economy has been fuelled by personal consumer spending“.

He added: “Now that the level of borrowing is so much bigger in terms of trillions, the level of people with debt problems is obviously higher than it used to be.

“It’s a much more competitive financial services market these days, and people are tripping over themselves to lend money. That must mean, by its nature, that their credit checks are less rigorous than they used to be.”

Tags: loan, recent boom, consumer spending, borrowers, consumer, competitive financial services, checking