Consumers bury their heads in the sand over debt

Natalie Holt
06-Jan-2009
Over half of consumers worried about spiralling debt have not sought advice on how to manage their money problems, research from MoneyExpert.com reveals.
A survey of 1,978 consumers carried out for the financial comparison website shows that 51% of those polled have not sought debt advice, even though they are worried about their financial situation.

Just 13% of respondents have asked for help in controlling their borrowing.

Sean Gardner, director of MoneyExpert.com, says; “Debt has been the ticking time bomb in the UK economy for the past few years with regular warnings that it’s about to go off. The fear must be that 2009 will see the explosion.”

Gardner says that with warnings over rising repossession levels and banks reporting growing levels of bad debt consumers face an uphill struggle in managing their finances.

He adds: “Interest rates are falling fast and you’d think borrowing would be cheaper than ever. But the fact is lenders are in dire straits and their number one priority is recovering bad debt – which is not good news for borrowers looking for a bit of leeway as times get tough.”