thedebtblog.co.uk

Today in the UK there are more people than ever looking for advice on repaying their mortgages. Are these the people who borrowed way beyond their financial means?

January and February this year have seen record breaking numbers of people asking for professional debt advice about their mortgages. Recent figures reveal that more and more people are concearned enough to get help with their mortgage arrears - so these are people who already have defaults and arrears, let alone the hundreds and possibly thousands of people who are about to default on their mortgage.

There has been a huge 35 per cent jump in mortgage related debt enquiries in the UK, over January and February 2008 compared to 2007. The good news is that people seem to be learning not to continue spending on credit cards as the credit card related issues fell by 9 per cent.

Of 5.7 million issues dealt with in 2007 almost a third of these enquiries were related to debt; a rather worrying trend. As well as mortgages, the ever increasing energy bills and general household bills are huge contributing factors to the 215,000 new debt related enquires taken this January and February.

The combination of huge increases bills like petrol and diesel prices plus rising housing costs has put additional pressure on day to day finances when they are already stretched to the maximum.

The usual Christmas credit card debt enquiries have fallen by 9 per cent in January and Febraury this year compared to last year, however overdraft enquiries are up 7 per cent on the same time period. So it looks like people are just shifting the debts to other forms of credit, it will be interesting to see the number of debt consolidation loans and general unsecured loans taken out and the number applied for in January, February and when we get to the end of March this year. I bet there are lots of people trying to shift debt to unsecured loans, although the credit crunch has lenders tightening their lending criteria, making it more difficult to get accepted for a new loan.

If you are struggling you should tell whoever you owe the debt to as soon as possible if you’re struggling to make repayments.

As many as 6.5 million people have consolidated debts in the last 3 years in order to try and keep in control of their finances. Alarmingly 1.29 million of us have unsecured debts of more than £20,000 - So that’s debts run up on personal loans, credit cards, store cards and overdrafts.

By ‘consolidation’ I mean people that have consolidated all their unsecured debts with 1 bank. This proves that demand for secured loans has increased significantly over the last 6 months. Worryingly, people who are struggling to keep up with their debts often turn to secured loans or homeowner loans in order to pay off unsecured debt with a loan secured on the equity in their home. The problem is something like 60 per cent of people who do this then continue to use credit cards and apply for personal loans, stretching their finances to breaking point.

If you are struggling to keep up with repayments on a number of different debts, perhaps money owed on store cards, credit cards or a loan you should really take action now to take control of your finances.

On one hand it is very good news that people are looking to consolidate their debts and take control of their finances, however on the other hand it is essential that these people do not fall into the false thinking that because they have consolidated their current debts they can suddenly afford to borrow even more. Moving your debts into one place can help you save money.

In the UK I think the average credit interest rate is something like 16.9 per cent, Typical APR, Variable.

Unsecured loan interest rates are much lower at around 9 per cent; secured loans are also lower at around 14 to 15 per cent. This kind of difference in interest rates will make a difference in monthly payments.

I can’t stress enough that debt consolidation should be used as a way of getting your finances under control it should not be used year after year to fund additional spending on credit cards and loans.