Problem debts cost the UK £8.3 billion
Debt advice charity StepChange has published a new report that has found problem debt had a staggering social cost of £8.3 billion in 2013.
The social costs of problem debt are various and include such costs as that to the NHS of dealing with health problems created or exacerbated by the stress of dealing with debt.
The biggest costs however come from housing and employment issues, where debts can lead to lost jobs and reduced productivity or debtors being evicted and forced to move homes.
Rather than recognise this enormous cost of problem debt it seems the Government’s policies are instead taking an active role of pushing more people into debt. For example 60% of tenants affected by the ‘Bedroom Tax’ are now in debt to their landlords as they were unable to pay their rent shortfall.
On top of this government research has shown that 26% of those affected have had to borrow money to pay the rent, 6% of whom have used either a credit card of payday loans. These claimants are unlikely to be able to pay back these debts anytime soon and high interest rates combined with other costs will undoubtedly lead to them spiralling into problem debts.....
Continue reading on Z2K website....
No comments:
Post a Comment