Beth Atkins

Liberal Democrat Councillor for New Mills

Debt Crunch - Financial Inclusion Conference

Beth reports,” I attended an interesting and very relevant conference recently which highlighted the problems of debt in the

UK today and in Derbyshire. The facts and figures about how we are accumulating debt make scary reading. The ways in which people can try to resolve their problems were discussed, the best place to go is to the Citizen’s Advice Bureaux and ask to talk to a trained debt counsellor. We were told that Insolvency Voluntary Arrangements (IVA’s) can be a bad deal as they take their fee upfront and after thinking that they were paying back a loan for 12- 18 months the client discovers the creditors have not received a penny. Doorstep loan sharks have very high interest rates and should be avoided.Credit Unions are the best place for local people to save in and to borrow small amounts from and the CAB can advise on these.

August 19th, 2008 in Fair trading |

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