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As was expected for the 2006
holiday season, consumer buying figures were up from the year
before. Consequently, the number of personal insolvencies is
expected to grow in correspondence to the increased spending. While
the bulk of U.S. citizens have never been strangers to debt, joining
their company this year are an increasing number of UK citizens.
According to Thornton, it is estimated there will be some 30,000
loan insolvencies by the end of March'07. A third of these, says
Thornton, will be caused by overspending during the holidays. There
are sev-eral theories circulating as to why more and more Britons
are increasing their debt, all of which hold a grain of truth in
their own right. The banks are blaming an increase in unregulated
financial firms counseling debtors to take individual volun-tary
arrangements (consequently allowing debtors to write off up to 60%
of their debt), and consumer groups are blaming the banks for
dictating who they lend to. |
