Insolvency ‘should not be stigmatised’

Posted 01/07/2010

A financial expert has said that personal insolvency should not be stigmatised.

Ed Bowsher, head of consumer finance for lovemoney.com, said that it may be the only solution for those who find themselves owing vast amounts of money.

“Otherwise they could spend their whole life weighed down by a mountain of debt that they will never pay off,” he pointed out.

Mr Bowsher was speaking in response to new UK debt statistics from Credit Action, which showed that total personal debt at the end of May stood at £1,460 billion, or £8,716 per household excluding mortgages.

The statistics also revealed that the number of personal insolvencies has increased by 18 per cent since last year.

Mr Bowsher said the information is “very sad”, but predicted that debt and insolvency will continue to go up slowly because rising unemployment is forcing people to borrow more money at “exorbitant rates”.

Anyone who is affected by insolvency should seek the counsel of an expert in the field in order to get straightforward, practical advice on what to do next.