Beat Debt Guide

Archive for the ‘Personal Debt’ Category

Last week an economist from CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce), Benjamin Tal, suggested that Canadians need to go back to old fashioned savings to increase their savings.

This is something that everybody should be doing in the UK too. To quote,

How much sacrifice does it take to reach the 6% savings rate threshold? Based on Statistics Canada’s Household Expenditures Survey, the average annual expenditures of a Canadian household is just over $71,000. Out of this amount close to $11,000 is spent on clothing, personal care, recreation, games of chance, tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. All other things being equal, cutting spending on those categories by only 10% will raise the savings rate from the current 4.2% to 6%.

This is what I’ve been saying all along.

If you ignore the currency, as the principle is the same, the amount of money people can save to reduce debt or provide for a rainy day, retirement etc. can significantly increase if you watch how much money you’re actually spending – remember DEBTIPLES™ – every single penny counts!

The Office of Fair Trading has imposed requirements on MADL in that it must:-

* make it very clear to consumers that the company does not provide or administer debt solutions
* provide consumers with adequate information about the service being offered
* not imply that the service is impartial or independent
* make its commercial status clear and not give the impression through any of its advertising that it is a charity or a publicly funded body, and
* ensure advertising of its debt management services is consistent with the standards set out in the OFT’s Debt Management Guidance.

It is timely advice as there are many companies who are making lots of money out of people who are in debt, and it really isn’t necessary.

As the OFT’s Director of Consumer Credit, Ray Watson, said, ‘It is important that consumers seeking help for debt problems know who they are dealing with and whether the company is providing an actual service or is simply a lead generator. We would advise anyone in financial difficulty to seek free debt advice….”

So, look at your own finances see what help is out there and take action. Just make sure that you are not being misled.

Don’t let that put you off and the best thing to do is to take action today. The sooner you start the sooner you will be out of debt!

The Government has granted a reprieve to hundreds of specialist debt advisers facing redundancy as they have agreed to continue the service for a year.

A lot of these people work in Citizens Advice Bureau and it is important to remember that these services are free for people to use. As it states in the article, “The next few years are likely to be very difficult for many people due to stagnating household budgets and rising costs but given CCCS’s capacity on its helpline and online debt counselling, there is no need for anyone to pay for debt advice.”

As I’ve mentioned many times before the key is to realise you have a debt problem and need help. Once you realise that you are on your way to beating debt.

11.5 million people turned to credit for their daily purchases according to the Post Office Consumer Credit Report.

More than one in ten (11 per cent) said they needed their card to cover overspend on Christmas purchases!!

What did I say… does nobody listen. Grrrrr….. Five years ago I warned about the danger of Christmas spending and the situation hasn’t changed. It’s the same every year.

Slightly disconcerting is that 33 per cent admitted to relying on their credit card to get through every month anyway.

Looking at the credit card usage throughout the year, half of the credit card holders expect to spend the same as they did during 2010, and over 2.4 million said they expect to spend more on their card during 2011. Yikes!!

The good news is that 56 percent are planning to pay off their bill in full each month to avoid paying any interest charges. However, the bad news is that seven per cent estimate it will take them more than three years to entirely clear their credit card debt..

You all know that the interest charges on Credit Cards are high so if you don’t pay it off in full, the amount you owe can just snowball into a bigger and bigger debt and before you realise it you’re in serious trouble.

So act now and start by getting advice today. Beat Debt!

Bankruptcies and insolvencies are in decline according to the latest figures from the Insolvency Service.

However, that does not mean the worse is over! As Louise Brittain from Deloitte states in this article, “The full impact of government cuts has yet to hit home, and when they do it will filter through to the private sector as outsourced supply chains are slimmed down. The consequent job losses will mean we are likely to see a sharp rise in the level of people petitioning for bankruptcy in the next nine months.”

So remember – if you are in debt and have credit problems. The key is to realise you have a problem, and then take action. The DEBTIPLES™ approach may be the way forward for you. Whatever you decide, don’t delay and make progress today!

Why is it every year some people wonder why they’ve got no money at the end of the summer?

With summer holidays (and for some the extra expenses of entertaining the children when not at school) it can be an expensive time. If funds are not saved through out the year to cover these expenses – that are inevitable – along with the extra daily items such as ice-creams then it could be an unhappy time leading up to Christmas.

The principle of Debtiples™ comes into it’s own when it is very easy to buy small one off items that when put together add up to a significant amount. Leading upto Christmas you do not want to still be paying your bills off only to get to Christmas and realise you have even more bills!

Beat the Debt, start today for an easier stress free life.

The Citizens Advice Bureau announced today in a report, Called to Account, that people who have recently become bankrupts can find it difficult to get basic banking services.

The Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, Gillian Guy, said:

“Great progress has been made in improving access to bank accounts for many groups who were previously financially excluded, yet there are still groups, such as undischarged bankrupts, who struggle to open even a basic bank account.

“Most people take having a bank account for granted, but without access to one, basic tasks such as receiving wages or benefits and paying bills can become huge and costly obstacles to overcome, particularly for people who are often at a vulnerable point in their lives. Just because someone is made bankrupt it doesn’t mean their life stops.

Obviously if you have to declare yourself bankrupt it is not a pleasant process to go through. Therefore it is important for those in debt and in trouble to recognise that fact and start to take steps to reduce their personal debt to a manageable level.

The later action is taken the more serious it becomes and the nearer you’ll be to having to declare yourself bankrupt – a situation best avoided.

If I had a pound for everytime somebody asked me, “What would be your most important piece of debt advice?”,  I would be a wealthy man.

There is no single piece of debt advice that will solve all debt problems.

Everybody’s circumstances are different. What will work for you may not work for somebody else. That is why I created the Beat Debt Guide. It enables you to have a personal journey to beat debt and has all the advice you need to get yourself out of debt to suit your individual needs.

When you’ve built up loans and credit card debts it can seem like a mountain to climb to recover them but the hardest part is realising that you’re in debt and have a problem that needs to be resolved.  If you are here you have hopefully realised that and are on the first step of the journey.

When you build up loans and credit over a period of time it can be hard to know where to start but remember Every Single Penny Counts.

In fact where ever you are in the world the Debtiples™ principle can be applied.   Every single dollar, euro, pound, cent, yen ALL count if that’s your currency.   If you’re in debt the same situation applies.

You need to realise you are in debt and the sooner you start to beat debt the sooner you will be out of debt.

The average owed by every UK adult, four years ago, was approximately £25,545 (including mortgages).  Today that figure stands at £30,258 (including mortgages).

Does that figure seem low to you?  Or does it seem high?   Your own personal debt may sway your opinion but remember that this is the average and many older people will no longer have mortgages etc because they will have paid them off over their working life.  Which mean that a lot of people will owe far more than the average.

Credit Action have some striking statistics. Two which stand out are every 11.4 minutes a property is repossessed and every 3.69 minutes someone will be declared insolvent or bankrupt.

Don’t be a part of the depressing debt statistics and take control of your debts today. You too can BEAT DEBT!

We now have a new Government which will have to tackle the national debt problem quickly to stop us getting to a point like what has happened in Greece.

£84,880,000 is the interest the Government has to pay each day on the UKs net debt of £857.5billion. This is projected to rise to £114m a day in this 2010-2011 financial year. (Source: Credit Action)

Is this going to hurt? Yes. Some people may get away without too much impact but other will definetly feel the pain.

Those individuals that have reduced their personal debts like I’ve been suggesting over the last few years should be better placed than those that haven’t. If you lose your job it will be tough and with a continual rise in unemployment figures this could be a possibility. If you haven’t yet started to tackle your debts start today because over the coming weeks and months it’s going to get tougher before it gets better.