Personal Finance - Have Consumers Had A Belly Full Of Personal Debt? By: Rachel Lane For months, we were trigger-swipe happy, putting our groceries, clothes, holidays and service charges on our credit cards. We wanted mortgages, we took out loans, we watched Property Ladder and What Not To Wear. Whether you were born middle class, had middle class aspirations, you became middle class through your spending. Debt united people around the UK, we sympathised with each other on what we couldn’t afford – but it didn’t matter, we still bought it. Soon everybody had a bottle of Jacob’s Creek in their kitchen and olives and humous in the fridge. Yet, it would seem as if a debt conscience is setting in. This morning, The Guardian printed a story based on the fact that Nationwide had reported a 0.2% decrease in the average house price, whilst the Times reported on a statement from the Bank of England, showing that credit-card borrowing was at its slowest rate for more than four years, with mortgage lending also very static. According to the latest Department of Trade and Industry Survey, 5% of individuals reported finding their household’s debt repayments a “heavy burden” and 4% of individuals are currently behind in payments for at least one credit commitment or domestic bill over the past three months. According to Credit Action, in December 2004, 1.2 million electricity and 1 million gas domestic customers were behind in repaying their debts to their supplier. Additionally 20% of people say that they often neglect checking their bank balance because “they are too scared to find out how much money they have”, according to Lloyds TSB. Credit Action also reported that the number of people searching for help to manage their debts had almost doubled in May in 2005, compared to figures in May 2004 and a survey from Relate revealed that 44% of couples find money to be a contentious issue in their relationship and a quarter of people in debt are receiving treatment for stress, depression and anxiety from their GP. It doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom however. If you’re lucky enough to have no outstanding debt, you can keep you finances in shape by exploiting the services of sites such as moneynet, which provide financial product price comparison information and extensive consumer information guides. If you have any outstanding debts, you can seek advice from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) or Citizens’ Advice and financial comparison sites like lowermybills and moneynet also provide detailed research on debt consolidation loans and debt management. Resources: http://www.moneynet.co.uk/credit-card-guide/index.shtml http://www.creditaction.org.uk/debtstats.htm About the Author: Rachel writes for the personalfinanosaurus Cashzilla http://www.cashzilla.co.uk Rachel has been writing personal finance related articles for six months and has learnt so much about mortgages and life insurance, that nobody invites her out to dinner anymore.

Inside Finance Are You Eligible For Tax Credit?   We must check if we are eligible for the tax credit. A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction of taxes owed. The Lifetime Learning Credit is available for all post-secondary education for an unlimited number of years. Credit Unions Saves From Bankruptcy   Credit unions will take advantage of every resource they can to help you get out of debt and it works much like a bank except they are more in charge of your money that you are. Credit unions will give you debit cards that you can use whenever you wish but they usually put a limit on it for you so that you don’t over spend. Types Of Investments   There are many type of investments. You can’t count on your social security checks to cover your expenses when you retire. The easiest and most popular kind of investment is a 401K plan. Credit Card Debt Consolidation-Need   Let's discuss about the need of credit card debt consolidation. This is when you start to realize that you are just unable to cope. You face stress and worry each month when you receive the dreaded statements from your credit card companies and your banks. Then, you begin to panic when you receive calls from the loan recovery department of your banks. Experian Credit Scoring 101   Let's discuss about credit scoring. Credit scores are affected by the number and severity of late payments, the type, age and number of credit accounts, your total debt and any recent inquiries that ask for your credit score. Credit scores are not affected by any of your personal data, such as age, race or marital status.