Church to offer financial advice
January 8, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, News-Banking
The Church of England (CoE) has announced it is to launch a ‘Matter of Life and Debt’ campaign in the face of spiraling levels of personal debt in the UK. 
With the UK owing a total of £1,400 billion in loans, credit cards, and overdrafts, advice is to come from both the pulpit and community groups.
The campaign incorporates a ten point checklist, to be viewed as a set of warning signs that show consumers maybe spending more than they could afford.
John Preston of the CoE, said: “If a household can say ‘yes’ to any of the statements on the checklist, it may be on the verge of encountering serious debt issues.”
He added that if a household can say ‘yes’ to three or more of the warning signs, “it would be well advised to talk to a debt counseling service.”
Research from Grant Thornton has predicted that 120,000 consumers are expected to be declared insolvent during the course of 2008.
Mortgage holders told credit cards ‘not necessarily a bad thing’
October 25, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Credit-Cards
People with mortgages who use credit cards to make sure they meet repayments are not necessarily doing the wrong thing.
According to the director of Debt Advice Bureau, Stephen Rose, some people have more or less paid for a house with the help of a credit card and “they’ve done very well”.
“If somebody is paying considerably less on their credit card than they are on their mortgage then it’s a good thing, but if they are paying more on their credit card than they are on their mortgage then it’s a bad thing,” he said.
A recent survey published by Shelter magazine ROOF showed that over a million people have used a credit card to pay off their mortgage or rent in the last year. This figure represents six percent of the population repaying mortgage loans or rent.
The Debt Advice Bureau is a not-for-profit organisation that gives information to residents in the UK concerning their debt issues.
The bureau sees around 4,000 people every month, giving them impartial advice on their problems relating to debt.
