By Elliot Wright, 4th February 2010
UK consumers are an astronomical £1.46trillion in collective
debt as besieged debt advisors struggle to cope with the growing
number of Britons in the red.
The alarming figures released today by the National Audit Office
(NAO) indicate that personal borrowing represented 160% of
household annual pre-tax income as Briton's get buried under an
ever-growing mountain of debt.
Last year saw a massive 28% increase in the number of people
contacting debt advice providers. As a result, agencies are
operating at full capacity and a quarter are refusing new clients
or have waiting periods of up to a month.
The Consumer Credit Counselling Service received over 335,000
calls to its free advice helpline in 2009 and expects to deal with
a record 400,000 calls - over a thousand a day - this year.
While the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS),
which also offers a free face-to-face advice service for people
struggling with debt, said it helped 270,000 people last year.
The Consumer Credit Counselling Service
expects to deal with a record 400,000 calls - over a thousand a day
- this year.
An NAO survey found that 81 per cent of people who received free
advice said it helped, compared to 69 per cent for advice received
from a fee charging professional and 59 per cent for advice
received from a bank.
Mr Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said today: "Many people are
able to manage their debt, but for some the problems may seem
insurmountable. When that is the case, people need good advice
which they can trust and which is accessible.
"BIS's project to offer face-to-face advice has done well and
has helped those who have used it. But demand is outstripping
capacity and the Department needs to look at ways of reaching even
more people; and it must establish a coherent framework for
delivering the Government's wider strategy for tackling
over-indebtedness."
Claims Financial