The Debt Protector

Summary
In recent years bankruptcies and debt linked to women have escalated severely. This article looks at the trends and investigates the cause.

While concentration has focused on high-status business bankruptcies like that of Millers, new data revealed by the Insolvency Service reveal that numerous individuals are going bust – and many of them are ladies

In the last 6 years bankruptcies amongst ladies have risen nearly fourfold. In fact they now make up 40 per cent of all bankruptcies with young females under the age of thirty five most prone to experience financial breakdown.
The statistics from the Bankruptcy Service made known that last year 24,100 ladies were declared bankrupt, up from only 6,646 in 2004. With males the figure was 37,975, that’s roughly 250% higher than the 15,741 which were declared bankrupt in 2003.

This signifies that eight years ago ladies made up twenty five per cent of bankrupts, but by last year that had increased to 38%.

In general, individuals aged between 32 and 42 are most apt to go bust. But with females it’s the youngsters that are possiblymost at risk, the twenty four to34 years of age.

The swift growth of female insolvency is most likely linked to both reckless spending when  getting a loan was too easy and their increased exposure owing to the escalating numbers of women who don’t have marriage or family support. It is apparent that more ladies are running up unmanageable debts as they attempt to uphold extravagant lifestyles.

They want to spend like Nichole Richie but just don’t have the money to repay the debts they run up. It’s daunting as they increasingly have to borrow more to get on the property ladder and if they live alone, there is nobody to contribute to the financial liability.

On the whole, some specialist financial advisers consider that insolvencyamong females would quickly match levels amongst gentlemen.

But theories by Ministers of Parliament, that females are particularly open to being made redundant were shown to be wrong by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last month. It said redundancy amongst females is running at at 1/2 the rate of men, and more women are protected as a higher proportion of them work in the public sector.

But the rise in ladies insolvency and debt insinuate that women are distressed for reasons over and above cuts in employment and income. Social studies have frequently confirmed that divorce leaves gentlemen much better off than females, usually because ladies more often than not take the children.

But if a cohabiting couplebreak up, the gentleman has no financial obligation to the female. And between five and six million Britons cohabit.

And a growing proporton of ladies have choosen to stay single either to continue with careers that may now be doubtful, or because of a benefit system that rewards single mothers but penalises couples.

Many of us get into financial trouble from time to time and some of us rely on our relations to help us out. These bankruptcies amongst ladies are a product of too manywomen being alone without financial assistance.

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Summary
If you are under pressure from creditors, you need to read this article. It outlines the three main debt advice services and describes the services they offer.

As the United Kingdoms recession grows, debt advisers are being engulfed by people desperately hoping to arrange their mortgage repayments, credit cards and loan repayments. There has been a 40% escalation in people in arrears on secured loans and mortgages say the Government, compared inquiries in two thousand and eight. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service, which additionally offers free debt help, gets over 1,500 calls a day, while calls to the National Debtline are up by over a third. So, if you are burdened with debt worries how can confidential services suits your needs? 

 The Citizens Advice Bureau (CABs) , who are they?  They area a network of more than 3,200 CABs around the UK manned by volunteers. The Majority of these offices have trained debt advisers.CAB (The Citizens Advice Bureau) One of the largest volunteer institutions in the UK equipped to assist in dealing with most problems faced in everyday life including financial management.

1. What do the CABs do?   To start with before they can advise you, they need to appreciate your income and outgoings. So they will assist you to assemble a list of creditors with income and expenditure.

Once this is done, they will determine whether your income can be increased. For example, you may not claiming proper benefits alternatively maybe you are on the wrong tax code. Then they will consider your family outgoings. They look at your household bills and loan repayments to see where you can save cash. They look at your family bills and finance repayments to see where you can save cash. Then they will consider your family expenditure.

Your debts will be categorised into priority debts – that’s payments such as mortgage or rent, council tax and utilities – and your non priority ones, such as unsecured loans, credit cards and HP.

 You will then be guided through the process of setting up an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) with your creditors.

The adviser at the CAB will then help you to negotiate a repayment plan with your priority creditors – your local authority, utility companies and mortgage lender or landlord. The balance of your income after meeting your family’s other living expenses can be offered to non-priority creditors based proportionately on how much you owe to each of them..

During the negotiations with the unsecured lenders the CAB consultants ask for the charges to be suspended which is usually agreed to by the creditors due to precedent in court rulings. They can also be of assistance if your home is under threat of repossession and with any other court actions. 

 The bad point: more and more of us struggle with our finances, their services are overextended, so you may have to wait weeks, even months, for an appointment.

The good points: The CABs service is generally face-to-face, which means they can deal with the paperwork with you. They can then sit with you while you talk to your creditors. They may also help you deal with the Courts
 The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), who are they?  The CCCS is primarily a telephone and online based service, although you can make an appointment to visit one of their 10 regional offices. These are are mainly in the North.

What do the CCCS do? The CCCS will draw up a budget with you to see how much money you you can afford to live on. Then whatever remains can be used to repay your priority debts and then your non-priority debts. More serious cases join the CCCs’s debt management programme. The CCCS will then negotiate repayments with the creditors and ask to freeze charges and interest.

Once in a debt management plan, you make one payment every month to the CCCS and they divide and distribute that money between your creditors thereby deducting the entire amount from your debt.

The good points: Debt management plans are easier to manage than continuing to repay several different creditors yourself. You can anonymously receive online counselling through a question-and-answer service.

The bad points: To enter into a debt management plan you have to have enough disposable income after basic living expenses

The National Debtline (ND), who are they? They are the original telephone-based debt guidance service.
What do the ND do? The ND send you a form to help your budgeting plus suggested letters to send to your creditors. They can also talk you through your money situation and offer information on what your creditors can do legally and suggest ways you can increase your income.

The good points: The service is quick and packed with constructive information offering assisted self-help.
The bad points: They will not speak to your creditors on your behalf. You are on your own.

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Summary
The UK Government have put pressure on mortgage lenders to minimise the levels of repossessions due to payment defaults. This article looks at how the lenders are replying.

As they steady themselves for a rise in defaults, mortgage lenders have published plans to minimise the number of households who have lost their homes. (CML) said that while mortgage repossessions and arrears were expected to remain low, the UK’s worsening economic future may cause more households finding themselves in difficulties.

The The Council of Mortgage Lender’s initiative aims to make sure that homeowners who are unable to retain their mortgage repayments will only lose their home after all other measures have been unsuccessful. Mortgage lenders are already obliged by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to have policies for arrears management which aim to avoid repossessions, except where there is no other option. But there is no standard policy, and repossession schemes alter between lenders.

In a letter to Alistair Darling the Chancellor, the The Council of Mortgage Lender’s said its members had signed up to four measures to help keep repossessions minimal.

Lenders have agreed to audit their current arrears management schemes and improve them to bring them in parallel with new industry policy that have been issued by the The Council of Mortgage Lender’s. Borrowers who fall behind with repayments will also be provided with council explaining their lenders’ arrears administration guide, so that they can be clear on what to expect and how they will be treated.

Lenders will also adopt what is called the “pre-action protocol” which lays out the various steps the lender must follow through prior to taking an arrears case to court inorder to ensure court action is a last resort.

Finally, banks and building societies also have to be assertive in assisting people to plan for possible higher mortgage repayments when their present deal ends. The Council wants lenders to communicate with borrowers towards the end of their discounted deal or fixed rate early and encourage them to get in touch with the lender if they anticipate they may have difficulty meeting the higher repayments.

The Director General at the CML said: ‘We continue to anticipate that the level of mortgage arrears and possessions will remain low, as originally forecasted. We continue to work closely with Government Ministers we look forward to a clear statement of the Government’s own position on a safety net for borrowers. With the economy worsening and an incomplete safety net for mortgage borrowers, the CML cannot be complacent about the outlook and the challenges facing lenders, borrowers and public policy makers alike.’

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