IVA & Debt Consolidation Advice

New figures show that debt enquiries to Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales have hit a record high, increasing by 20% in the last year and bringing the total to 1.7 million in 2006/07. The number of debt problems brought to bureaux has doubled in the last 10 years.

National charity Citizens Advice says the figures confirm there is no let-up in the rising toll of casualties from an unprecedented consumer credit boom and recent sharp increases in the cost of living, making mortgages, council tax and utilities more expensive for many people.

Debt is now the number one issue advised on in bureaux, accounting for one in three of all enquiries, and CAB advisers around the country are dealing with over 6,600 debt problems every working day.

The new figures are published during Advice Week* when the focus is on raising much needed funds and recruiting the 5,000 new volunteers needed every year by Citizens Advice Bureaux.

Credit card debt and problems with unsecured loans dominated, accounting for 40% of the CAB debt caseload. One in four of all debt enquiries concerned credit and store cards. Consumer credit debt problems of all kinds increased by 14%, while problems with overdrafts and unsecured personal loans increased by more than 18%. Enquiries about bankruptcy jumped by 50%.

But the figures also indicate that many hundreds of thousands of people are increasingly struggling to meet their day-to-day living expenses. Gas and electricity debt problems shot up by a third (33%), while council tax debt enquiries went up 25% and telephone debt problems by 19%. Problems with mortgages and secured loans were up 11%.