Debt Problems? Read this if you’re thinking of bankruptcy
Are we in the UK drowning in Debt? According to the insurer AXA, some 11.6 million people (25 per cent of the adult population) are said to be struggling financially with a significant number, around 1.3 million people, admitting their finances are entirely out of control.
AXA reported that mounting credit card bills are now putting just close to 3.8 million people under intense financial pressure and a further one million of UK borrowers are now struggling to keep up their repayments.
500,000 people have been threatened with the bailiffs or repossession and consumer county court judgements (CCJs) has reached their highest level since the start of 2007′s third quarter.
The Registry Trust, the public interest company which manages the register of judgements published within England and Wales; stated that CCJs rose by 17.4 per cent year on year to 223,519, their highest level since the first quarter of 2007. This is 25 per cent increase from the second half of 2008
Personal Insolvencies within England and Wales rose to just of twenty seven thousand in quarter 3 of 2008 which represents an 8.8 percent increase from just less that 25,000 in the previous quarter.
Bankruptcies and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) have increased 12 and 3 percent respectively.
The treacherous economic conditions for people and business has created a rise in corporate and personal insolvency and the worsening economy is making the prospect of a further rise in insolvency further predictable through 2009.
Unfortunately the planned Simplified Individual Voluntary Arrangement SIVA, due out next year has been abandoned by the Insolvency Service
A simplified version of the IVA, for consumers with debts up to 75,000 and that would only require approval by a simple majority of creditors rather than the 75 per cent majority under normal IVAs, was due to be introduced in April 2009.
UK Home Owners unable to consolidate their debts using equity and are not wishing to go bankrupt have for the time being limited options between an IVA and a Debt Management Program.