Disabled people and debt

Todays blog has been written by Eugene Grant who works for disability charity Scope.

We are struggling financially and finding it very hard to cope. I am at my wits end [trying] to find a way out of the debts. This quote from a disabled mother of a disabled child will resonate with many people all over Britain right now. Recent estimates show that some 10 million people find it a constant struggle to manage their debts; last year, over one and a half million people sought help from debt advice services.

For many disabled people, their financial situation has been made worse by problems with their benefits or social care packages – the result of bad decisions made by Government or their local authority. Currently, around 39% of disabled people who challenge the outcome of a Work Capability Assessment – the test to determine eligibility for disability out-of-work benefits – have the original decision overturned in their favour. With

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May 05, 2012 No Comments by Erin Donnithorne

How to Ruin Your Economy and Influence People

We can learn a lot from the Argentines. When it comes to messing up an economy, they’re Numero Uno. They’re Olympians of financial legerdemain and masters of the old false shuffle.

In 2001, the country was deeply in debt. The government was out of money. And the currency was losing value fast. What did the Argentines do?

First, they broke their promise to investors and savers, cutting the peso loose from the dollar. Then, they seized control of banks and bank accounts. People had been saving money in US dollar accounts in order to avoid problems with the peso. But the Argentine feds forcibly converted their accounts to pesos, just as the peso was losing 2/3rds of its value.

The next thing was to take the reserves in the central bank and use them to pay current expenses – which caused the head of the bank to resign in protest.

And finally, a few years later, they took over private pension funds – to protect them for the pensioners, of course. What ar

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Apr 19, 2012 No Comments by Erin Donnithorne
Tags: Economy Economy Influence

ATMs Now Dispensing Gold In China

You can get cash at an ATM and even deposit your paycheck, but now in China you can buy gold. While here in the US it seems you can sell gold on every street corner, in China you can now buy it at some ATMs. According to WallStreetdaily.com the gold vending machine is imported from Germany and will be installed around in the country the first week of October with a total of 2,000 going in in high end hotels and banks around the country over the next two years.

Through the ATM gold machine you can find the latest precious metal quotes every ten minutes. You can buy gold with cash or your ATM card, choosing from various sizes and shapes. “After the outbreak of the international financial crisis, everybody in China became very enthusiastic to purchase and invest in gold,” Director Zheng Ruixiang of Gongmei Gold Group told WallStreetDaily.com. “Un

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Apr 11, 2012 No Comments by Erin Donnithorne
Tags: China

What was your tipping point?

A tipping point is the moment you realised you can no longer continue to cope and that you need some assistance. In terms of financial tipping points each of our clients are different, but many of the reasons are the same.

I therefore decided to look at some of the most popular ones we deal with on a day-to-day basis.

Redundancy

Since the recession of 2009 we have seen more and more people coming to us after being made redundant. I once heard someone say that the average family only has enough money to get them through three months before they are at risk of debt crisis. I dont know how true this is but it is thought-provoking never-the-less. It is clear than many people who are made redundant quickly struggle to keep up their repayments to creditors.

Relationship down

When going from having two incomes to just the one with the same expenses it becomes very difficult for people to cope.

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Apr 01, 2012 No Comments by Erin Donnithorne
Tags: Point Tipping Point

Britons ’stuck in mortgage trap’

Nearly one in seven British households are paying their mortgages on an interest-only basis with no plan in place to pay off the debt in future.

This problem is significant because the majority of people on such arrangements at
present are either over 55 (32 per cent) and therefore approaching retirement, or between 35 and 55 (53 per cent), meaning it will be hard for them to find or earn the funds they need, the Unbiased.co.uk study found.

Chief executive at the website Karen Barrett said: “With incomes squeezed, its not surprising that many people are trying to save money by sticking to interest only mortgages, but this is a potential ticking time bomb.”

This could mean there is a threat of repossession facing some homeowners in due course unless they can seek debt help.

A recent survey by First Direct showed that homeowners are tending to save spare cash rather than use to it to pay off their mortgages early.

Mar 27, 2012 No Comments by Erin Donnithorne
Tags: Mortgage Mortgage Trap’

Interest Rates on Many Student Loans Set to Double This Summer

College students might notice a considerable uptick this summer in the interest rates of their loans. A recent article in The New York Times explains that the current interest rate for federal student loans, 3.4% to be exact, will be doubled to 6.8% in July 2012. Specifically, the hike in interest rates would affect students who took out federally subsidized Stafford loans under through the federal government. Stafford loans are issued per academic year to students in significant financial need; in their freshman year alone students can take out up to $3,500.00 in federally subsidized Stafford loans. Considering the large sums allotted to college students through these loans, the pending interest rate increase could have a dramatic effect on recent college grads already strapped for cash.

Why the sudden jump in student loan interest rates?

Unfortunately this increase has been planned for a long time.

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Mar 16, 2012 No Comments by Erin Donnithorne
Tags: Interest Rates Summer

Financial Experts Reveal Their Outlook For 2012

Positive thinking is a powerful tool. And a new survey shows the majority of financial professionals are optimistic about economic growth in 2012. Accounting Principals polled finance professionals about the coming new year and found most are thinking positively, but they’re still cautious.

Of those polled, 67% expressed that they believe their company will land new business in the coming year. Sixty percent say they’ll be expanding into new markets and more than half say they’ll invest more resources into new products. “We find it very reassuring that financial professionals – the people who hold the purse strings of American business – believe companies are headed in a positive direction in 2012,” said Janette Marx, senior vice president, Accounting Principals in a news release. “These findin

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Mar 12, 2012 No Comments by Erin Donnithorne
Tags: 2012

Reducing your outgoings.

In this current climate trying to reduce your outgoings is a constant uphill struggle as it seems on a weekly basis we face rising costs in gas, electricity, water, phone bills, food or fuel. However if you are savvy with your spending and really look at where your money goes you can start looking at areas that can be reduced.

Here are some handy tips:

There are many more ways in which you can save money, these are just a few to get you started. If you have any tried and tested ideas then please feel free to share and help others out.

Mar 05, 2012 No Comments by Erin Donnithorne
Tags: Outgoings
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