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Debt Advice Weekly round-up

08/01/2010

Customers who have been trying to avoid paying their debts by calling on their credit card companies to produce the original loan or card agreement have been foiled.

The High Court has decided banks only need to provide a "reconstituted" copy of the agreement, in a ruling which could affect thousands of cases in the hands of claims management companies.

Meanwhile the Bank of England announced the amount of money lenders are giving out rose by £1.1 billion in November, double the previous month's growth.

But people are also concentrating more on trying to pay debts off, with the total amount of outstanding credit actually falling.

Separate research by the Building Societies Association suggests many people are using their savings to pay down debt.

There's a warning from debt management experts not to fall into a debt spiral, as borrowers are expected to move £3.2 billion onto new credit cards over the next three months.

Santander predicts four a half million balance transfer credit cards will be taken out in the New Year.

Kevin Still of Atlantic though reminds people to cut up or hide old cards to avoid the debt building up.

It's as the number of people seeking debt management help could rise, as a new report claims a quarter of a million more jobs will be lost over the next six months.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) predicts unemployment will peak this summer, at 2.8 million, but should then start to show signs of recovery.

And it's claimed the number of families who lost their homes last year is far higher than the official figure of 48,000.

The Conservatives say the number of repossessions doesn't take into account homeowners who sold their house to a landlord, to then rent it back from them – known as Sales and Rent Back (SARB).

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