Blog

Every year we all decide we’ll be better organised and start the Christmas shopping in March and just pick up a few bits here and there each month. After all, there’s an array of other expenditure to think about come December including a new party frock and an endless supply of funds for ‘Festive Beverages’. I mean, Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without a small sherry amongst friends. According to Credit Action Charity, Britons spend on average £655 on food, drink, gifts & socialising which increases to £856 if you include cards, a new tree and all those late...

The summer holidays…… That time of year that every child of school age looks forward to and most parents dread & as usual in Scotland, there is never a stitch of Mr Sunshine in sight! As depressing as it is for us adults to have to drag ourselves out of bed while the rain batters off the windows, kids feel it too – albeit in different ways. If they can’t get out on their bikes to do ‘skiddies’ up and down the street then their universal war cry can be heard for miles……”Mum, I’m bored”. Summer Finances: The Stats It’s...

Following the introduction of the Payday Loan code of practice which was introduced by the Consumer Finance Association on 14th July 2011, there are a number of views bouncing around out there. Some see it as the payday lenders taking steps to construct good practice, which if adopted ‘all round’, will result in everyone singing from the same hymn sheet & the more boisterous among them toning down their ominous tactics when collection of the debt becomes debt collection! Payday lenders are advertising more and more on television with quirky ads & the actors all wear grateful expressions when handed...

I bet we’re all wishing we voted Labour now! After Maggie T swept through and punished the poor for being poor, I’m sure everyone breathed a sigh of relief when big Johnny M was voted in and it appears we’ve seen it all over again when the whole tax credit thing starts to take hold. When the new changes came into effect, thousands of parents had their Child Tax Credit cut completely. Previously those earning a “normal” salary were pretty much guaranteed some sort of payment, even if it was the bog standard tenner a week. Every little helps right,...

All good things must come to an end, and this includes your debt! In Scotland, if a creditor has failed to pursue an outstanding debt for a period of 5 years or more then it becomes ‘prescribed’ debt. (subject to conditions noted below). I was therefore surprised to hear from a lady last week who is being chased for Poll Tax from 1992! The creditor in question, whether this is the original company, a debt collection agency or perhaps the debt has, after lying dormant for a month of Sundays and the rest, been sold to someone else, then the...

Gone are the days when debt was a bad word and it was unheard of to parade it up and down, allowing it to air its dirty laundry right in front of our faces. Now we can’t get away from it, whether it’s on the way home in the car, you hear Peter Dean who has become a household name, talking about Trust Deeds or the Debt Arrangement Scheme or mid Jeremy Kyle when you’re just about to stick the kettle on and on come the credit cards and outstanding bills which have sprouted arms and legs and have got...