May
21
Record Debts for Britain’s Borrowholics
Filed Under News
According to the Bank of England, Britons owe more money than ever before. It seems, we just can’t be stopped.
Whatever is happening in the outside world makes no difference, because it’s spend, spend, spend.
The result being that mortgage lending hit another record high again in April with gross advances totalling £19.6 billion, according to the latest estimates released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
This figure is on top of a skyrocketing consumer debt, which after repayments hit a new seasonally adjusted high of £80.7 billion according to the British Bankers’ Association.
Figures for the Major British Banking Groups (MBBG) saw spending on credit cards in March total £5.64 billion, 10% more than in March 2001. Whilst new lending on personal loans and overdrafts hit £3.4 billion. Yet another symptom of the Brit’s most expensive addiction.
The constant barrage of ads on t.v., radio, in newspapers and magazines tells us to borrow, borrow, BORROW. The only time those ads stop is when the debt management companies get to tell us how they can help us with our debt problems, for a percentage of course.
And with interest rates likely to stay at historic lows for a little while longer, if the latest inflation figures are any indicator, Britain’s borrowholics will be able to continue feeding their addiction safe in the knowledge that the banks are always happy to keep them well supplied with the good stuff.
