Money education ‘needed to reduce debt’
September 20, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Loans
More education on money management and borrowing is required to help young adults in the UK avoid getting into debt, it is claimed.
According to Credit Action deputy manager Chris Tapp, Britons need more advice on the pitfalls of building up debt but stops short of calling for increased regulation on financial lending.
Too many Britons have “been educated into debt but not about debt”, he believes, calling for better advice to be provided by the government through the education system.
Sufficiently knowledge on the risks involved should be enough to help the UK’s younger adults to think more carefully about their financial management, Mr Tapp added, while the recent credit crunch, although not a good thing, could have provided a necessary wake up call to prompt people to think seriously about their money.
He concluded: “If people were better educated to the risks and people were able to manage their money more carefully … that would be more effective than further regulation.”
The National Union of Students has recently speculated that graduate debt in the UK could rise to £33,708 by 2011 because of the impact of top-up fees and recent increases to the cost of living.
Parents forking out for offspring debt
September 19, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Loans
Some 7.5 million parents are having to financially support their adult children, new research has found.
A MoneyExpert survey found that 40 per cent of parents with adult children have to help out with debt problems, with some £2,540 being paid per family on average.
Mobile phone bills and car finance were the most popular debt types that 24 per cent of parents have helped to cover the cost of, closely followed on 23 per cent by credit card bills.
Overdraft finances on 20 per cent and student loan debts on 15 per cent also featured as the fourth and fifth most common types of debt.
MoneyExpert chief executive Sean Gardner commented that the figures reveal that child expenditure is now a financial burden for many parents even when their kids reach adulthood.
“With the cost of living so high at the moment and with so many people living a buy-now-pay-later lifestyle, parents are often forced to help out with their children financially in later life,” he added.
Recent statistics from the debt charity Credit Action reveal that the average graduate debt for adults under the age of 30 is £12,363, but the figure represents both a decrease of £889 on 2006 and the first drop in graduate debt for six years.
