Saturday 5 February 2011

Personal insolvencies - another record year


There is a grim inevitability about the rise in personal insolvencies. In 2010, over 135,000 people in England and Wales were overwhelmed by the debts and took the ignominious route of personal bankruptcy.

For banks, the personal lending business is a cruel numbers game. So long as the profits from personal loans comfortably exceed the losses from debt defaults, they are happy. However, for an individual, seduced by those adverts offering easy cash, insolvency is a personal disaster.

1 comment:

Budgie said...

I shudder every time I see one of the 'sign-here-consolidate-your-loans-and-get-extra-cash-to-spend' ads, or hear the same message on the phone. There are poor (in both senses) people who succumb to these blandishments; and I feel sorry for them.

We must get away from the idea that debt for current spending is okay. That includes (especially) the government, which should lead by example.