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Consumers responsible for their debt levels

Consumers themselves are ultimately responsible for recent rises in bankruptcy and IVA numbers, an industry expert has said.

Stephen Rose, the director of the Debt Advice Bureau, explained that it was always consumers themselves who made the decision to spend money and get themselves into ever increasing cycles of debt.

He said that "things like interest rate rises that we've had aren't in themselves a reason for why there's been such a rise in insolvencies.

"Rates would have to go a lot higher before that would filter through and be such a cause."

Mr Rose added: "At the end of the day, you're the one who's signing the application. You're the one that's using it, so you've got to make sure that you know what you're signing, you know what you're getting into."

In general, Mr Rose said that financial institutions provided information about the products they sell, but that "is a tendency for people to glaze over a little bit if you're bombarded with all the numbers and the stats and the facts on paperwork".

In the first quarter of the year, official figures show that there were 30,075 individual insolvencies in England and Wales as people took on more borrowing than they could repay.

Source: moneyhighstreet.com

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Once again an interesting point, I don`t think anyone here would disagree with the fact that we are ultimately responsible and having said that I don`t think credit is a bad thing I personally believe we should be given more education on the subject of finance and I mean at school. I read last week that 15% of 18-24 year olds think an ISA is an ipod accessory and 1 in 10 think it`s an energy drink. So yes I agree we are responsible but please educate, educate,educate. Sounded a bit like Tory Blair there sorry.

Obviously people do need to take responsibility for the money they have borrowed and I think the vast majority do. I would also echo Welshboys point that a there should be an increased focus on financial products within the education system.

However, I feel that lenders should also shoulder their fair share of the blame as I feel that there needs to be a higher level of responsible lending. If lenders throw money at people "willy nilly" without investigating the ability of that person to pay the monies back then surely they can expect nothing less than a number of debtors unable to repay the funds.

Best Regards
Oliver

Thomas Charles and Co Ltd.
Experts in personal debt solutions.
Read customer feedback at: www.thomascharles.com/about_us.asp

I wish I had been taught about finances at school as maybe I wouldn't have ended up BR. Yes I was responsible for spending the money, but maybe is shouldn't have been given to me quite so easily.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/

I saw a comment in the paper this last week stating that IVAs were being "hijacked" by consumers who had lived beyond their means, funding lifestyles they could not afford. You could tell he had no sympathy whatsoever and was even more scathing of IPs firms who were "ambulance chasing". He stated the IVA was intended for sole traders and was never meant for reckless consumers. He worked in debt recovery no doubt !

Andy2, in my local newspaper last week in the Insolvency Section was a man who petitoned for bankruptcy. His name was along the others who had filed.Guess what his employment was? Debt Collector.

I do wonder how he handled the harrassing telephone contacts? Ha! There IS justice in this world.

All I have left is my humour.

That really made me smile DD!

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/