Nov
7
Personal Bankruptcies Hit Decade High
Filed Under Bankruptcy
Provisional figures released today by the Department of Trade and Industry revealed that the number of people going bankrupt surged to its highest level for more than a decade.
Seasonally adjusted figures reveal 9,094 people in England and Wales were declared insolvent between July and September, the biggest number since the first quarter of 1993 and a 16.9% increase on the same quarter last year. A total of 7,086 people were declared bankrupt and further 2,008 established Individual Voluntary Arrangements or Deeds of Arrangement.
The annual number of personal insolvencies has been climbing steadily since it bottomed in 1997 when it fell to just 24,441, for 2003 Debt Advice Bureau™ expectations are for it to exceed the 35,000 level. As for 2004, the bureau believes that it could well pass the 42,000-mark, a level last seen in 1992 when the country was in the depths of recession and mortgage rates spent most of the year above 10%.
What is more disturbing is that these rises have taken place whilst interest rates have been at historic lows and house prices have continued to surge forward.
With Britons borrowing a record £10.7bn in September and yesterday’s quarter point rate rise by the Bank of England expected to do little to stop the debt-a-thon, the British consumer’s inability to sate their desire for credit means that things are going to get a lot worse for an awful lot of people.
