Monday 1st of March 2010
Individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) answers could be increasingly sought by borrowers after new figures reveal that consumer credit has risen.
New statistics from the Bank of England show that in January consumer credit rose by £0.5 billion.
This marks an increase of £0.2 billion from December. Those of you who have dealt with the new year finances by taking on credit to cover your costs may now be feeling the repayment pinch.
IVAs can help you deal with repayments resulting from personal loans and credit cards. They freeze the interest rates on repayments, making your monthly debt outgoings more manageable for borrowings of more than £15,000.
In January credit card lending rose by £0.2 billion, while other loans and advances shot up by £0.3 billion.
Choosing an IVA to help clear credit card and other financial commitments appeared to be more popular than bankruptcies during the fourth quarter of 2009.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that bankruptcies were down 5.5 per cent when compared to the same period the previous year.
IVAs were, however, up by 26.3 per cent to stand at 13,219.
By Chris King
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