The website thisismoney.co.uk is reporting that 38% of small business owners do not expect their operations to survive the next twelve months, while even more are planning to make redundancies.
The Catholic primate of England, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, has warned against just blaming the government for a spread of morality. His comments come after five Anglican bishops questioned the morality of the government’s policies on spending.
The 250-year-old maker of glassware and fine china, Waterford Wedgewood, has gone into receivership, with up to 1900 UK jobs being put at risk.
A new study has shown that 24 per cent of people coming up to retirement age are in debt. The study was disclosed by Just Retirement, the retirement solutions provider.
Citizens Advice is hoping to recruit 1300 volunteers for three years. The new recruits will offer advice to consumers throughout the country on financial matters. Nationwide Building Society is to be a partner in the scheme, investing £3 million to help the venture.
The Ministry of Justice has said that lenders are moving to secure credit card and loan debt agains houses. This is a further sign of the jitters that are affecting the lending industry as the credit crunch continues to bite.
British borrowers with credit card and loan debt will work an average of seventy days this year to repay interest on their borrowings, a report claims.
According to a survey by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), almost a fifth of mortgage payers are worried about their ability to meet repayments in the next twelve months, and a quarter of these have no plans in place to deal with the situation.
Last year in the UK, debt collection agencies and bailiffs chased 20 million cases of debt default.
Many of these firms are using aggressive, yet legal, collection methods, and now there are calls for a clamp-down on collectors.
A report out today suggests that parents are secretly saving to pay off debts run up by their children while at university.
Savings bank ING Direct, which published the report, says that many parents are keeping the savings a secret because they fear that if their offspring were aware of the safety net they would spend even more.