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Debt Management Weekly Round Up

19/03/2010

It's been another busy week in the world of debt management. Here are some of the top stories.

The biggest news this week was the launch of a joint scheme between the government and the credit card industry to put in place new rights for customers from the end of January next year which could have a big impact on the rate that credit card debt is cleared.

However, the government and the industry are disputing just how much the scheme is going to cost – leading some experts to predict that credit card companies will attempt to claw back the money elsewhere.

It was also confirmed that the Office of Fair Trading's upcoming report on the cost of credit will make only passing reference to bank overdraft charges. The British Cheque and Credit Association claimed that this was an unfair omission.

While a surprise drop in unemployment for February was reported by the Office for National Statistics this week, there has nonetheless been a steady drip of new reports warning about Britain's personal debt mountain.

uSwitch warned that one in ten Britons are spending more than they earn each month, while Lloyds TSB Commercial found that the recession and the winter weather had cost small businesses £7 billion. ADNFCR-2613-ID-19679090-ADNFCR