Consumer Confidence Continues To Slide

Britons continue to hold a diminishing optimism regarding towards their finances, it has been revealed.

In the latest Consumer Confidence study by GfK NOP, it was revealed that the outlook for members of the public hold towards their own money management and the economy as a whole dropped over the course of this month. The firm registered an overall index score of -36 for the month of October, with this figure representing a decrease of four points from the -32 recorded during the previous month. In October last year, however, GfK NOP had noted a score of -8.

The most dramatic decline was recorded in the index tracking whether consumers believe now is a good time to make a major purchase. GfK NOP reported that this measure fell 11 points over the course of the month to stand at -43. Not only is such a figure a drop of 38 from figures recorded in October 2007, it is also the lowest score ever recorded by the firm since it first began tracking this in 1982.

Meanwhile, the study reported that consumers opinions about the general state of the economy during the past year has fallen ten points to stand at -72. Peoples views about their own personal finance situation dropped by a single point this month to -12. This figure represents a plummet from the +13 score registered in October 2007.

And in having an increasingly negative opinion of their monetary situation, it could be possible that consumers are finding getting to grips with various spending commitments is becoming a more difficult task. As such, this may mean that they are struggling when it comes to managing repayments on personal loans, credit cards and utility bills.

However, there was some silver lining in the dark economic picture, with peoples opinions about their money management situation improving by a single point this month. An increase of three points was noted in the predictions for Britains general economy over the coming year standing at -37. However, such an index is still 20 points below figures recorded last October.

Rachael Joy, of GfK NOPs consumer confidence team, said: “The index score this month has returned to the level we saw in August. The turmoil surrounding the banking world and subsequent turbulence in the financial markets is making for an uncertain time. Consumers are not at all confident about buying major purchases as rising food and energy bills leave them increasingly worried about keeping up with payments and saving has also seen a considerable drop, possibly due to fears of the safety of savings, as well as straightened resources as household bills increase.”

She went on to report that the impact of lower petrol prices and moves by the Bank of England to cut the base rate of interest earlier this month “are unlikely to have a significant effect on confidence” in the weeks ahead.

People worried about their ability to manage their money in the coming weeks might wish to consider applying for a debt consolidation loan as doing so may help borrowers to merge various spending constraints into a single low-cost monthly repayment. This could prove to be of assistance after MoneyExpert recently revealed some five million demands for payments were missed in the six month leading up to September.

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