The forecast is still decidedly cloudy in the housing market

Whilst fish & chips, afternoon tea and owning your own home are classically British traits, our continental cousins in France and Italy are still happy to pay rent for their homes. So is this preference toward ‘bricks and mortar’ investment healthy?

For many years this model of owning a home did indeed make sense. Location flexibility was required by only a few employers and as families tended to stay close to their roots, purchasing a house as an investment and something to pass on to the kids (or to sell and fund a retirement) worked out as a great all round option.

Then along came the Eighties’ and with it a housing boom and an even tougher bust with interest rates soaring toward 20%. Then in the late Nineties and most of the Naughties came along another considerable period of house price rises, until the financial turmoil and fall out from the now infamous Sub-Prime lending.

This has left many British families who had gambled their financial futures on house price rises starting to sweat and require debt advice UK. Sure a period of negative growth had hurt a little bit – and indeed a blanket drop of approximately 30% across the UK (London excepted!) did initially look a bit scary.

• Prices were sure to rebound… weren’t they?

Sadly, some three years on and we are still awaiting this rebound and if the latest figures from the Halifax House Price Index are anything to go by, in the year May 2010 to May 2011, a further 4.2% has been eroded from the value of our homes, with the average UK home now worth a touch over £160k.

• So with no real sign of prices returning to late 2007 highs, where does this leave ‘Alarm Clock Britain’?

In short, whilst no high street banking executive or government official would admit to it, there are still a number of UK families who are technically insolvent. This is because the total of their personal debts exceed the total value that could be raised by selling all of their assets.

• Ok, but what does this actually mean?

Being insolvent doesn’t necessarily mean that millions of people are about to be declared bankrupt, instead it means that a little bit like Greece, they need to implement some austerity measures in order to avoid the murky shadow of debt creeping ever further over them and start to repay some of this borrowing.

It also means that somewhere between 10 & 15% of UK mortgage holders are still in ‘negative equity’ meaning that their possibility of moving is restricted, unless they effectively find another deposit to help them secure a mortgage.

For example, a couple who earn £40,000 between them and bought a £200k house with 100% mortgage (i.e. a £200,000 mortgage) in 2007 could now expect that house to be worth less than £200k today.

If that couple had lost their jobs through redundancies and now wanted to move to a similarly sized house in a new area for a new job, then they could be some thousands of pounds short of the amount needed to repay their original loan.

In addition, under current mortgage lending criteria, most lenders are not offering mortgages for any less than 85-90%.

So, with this kind of scenario stopping people already on the property ladder from moving, then it’s up to the first time buyer to help oil the wheels of recovery for the housing market.

• If you are struggling with personal debt or have mortgage arrears due to debt problems, call Lewis Alexander today using 0800 018 6868, calls are FREE from a land line.

Ashamed to ask for Debt Help

Get advice about your debts and help with your money,

• There is no shame in asking the people who know the answers for help when it comes to personal debt.
• The alternative could be getting deeper and deeper into debt making it harder and harder to escape from.
• Wait no longer, ask for that help today.

Life in Britain today is lived in the fast lane and the expectations we all try to live up to can be crippling at times. This constant expectation can have inherent financial implications which in themselves can lead to people needing professional debt help. Many people try to suffer quietly because they wrongly think that they are the only ones who are experiencing these debt problems.

A lot of people are fighting personal debt and the ones who get out of debt quickly are the ones who get proper help to clear debt as early as possible.

If you feel you perhaps need debt management UK or are maybe not sure whether our help is necessary, call us or get in touch using 0800 018 6868 so one of our advisors can talk to you to ascertain whether or not you might benefit from our advice.

Money trouble is one of the biggest causes of divorce in the UK and can even cause serious stress induced illnesses. Our debt management plan is designed to take away the stress at the same time as removing the debts in a pain free and organised manner.

We offer people tried and tested ways to better organise their debts in an attempt to pay off those debts in a timely way that doesn't incur further interest or charges, this can not be guaranteed. We work in conjunction with your creditors and because everything is agreed by all parties, the constant barrage of creditors letters and phone calls also tends to cease.

• Organise your debts better with debt management solutions.

• Consolidate debts into one easily affordable monthly repayment 

• Lay out a formal repayment plan with an IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement

All of these debt solutions have their own benefits and downsides but may not suit every situation. Once we have spoken with you we will be better able to advise you on a course of action to get your debts under control.

Our main aim has always been to financially empower consumers to regain control of the quality of their lives through education and financial management through UK debt help.

To this end we focus on the vulnerable people in society as well as the well off. The following groups of people find our help invaluable on a regular basis.

• Single parent in debt.
• People recently made redundant and in debt.
• Retired people with debts.
• People who have just lost a loved one and have been left with debts after a death.

Get help today by calling 0800 018 6868 now!

Personal debt advice and help

• Get debt advice that will actually make a difference!

It does not matter what time of day you decide to get debt help, our lines are open to take your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  So if you have woken again during the night and have decided it is time to change your financial future, we are happy to take your call.

• Call us right now! Day or night you can call FREE from a BT land line using 0800 018 3345.
• We offer personal UK debt advice and help that you can rely on!

With such a variety of information, disinformation, advice and what is sometimes pure myth, it can be difficult to try and figure out what is actually good reliable personal debt help these days.

We have a work ethic that we are rightly proud of. We offer totally confidential advice on debt to people struggling through a very difficult and sometimes awkward part of their life. We do not take advantage of our clients when they are at their most vulnerable. We guide them and advise them how to clear debts the simplest and most economical way we can recommend. From students to pensioners we can and do help most people with debt management UK.

Personal debt affects different people in different ways because everyone has different circumstances and different lifestyles. We aim to find a solution for you which is tailored to suit your own set of circumstances and will hopefully align itself to your own lifestyle.

Firstly, remember that debt consolidation advice should not be costing you a single penny. If you have been offered advice at a cost, then perhaps you should walk away. We could be able to help you pay off all of your debts and you could obtain one affordable monthly repayment. We can also try to halt any interest charges that you may currently be being charged by store and credit cards through a debt management plan but this can not be guaranteed.

Individual Voluntary Arrangement or IVA
IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangements have a fixed repayment period of no more than 60 months ending on a specific end date which you are aware of from the beginning. After this date, all your debts are usually cleared. In England and Wales, creditors have to freeze all further interest and charges by law (In Scotland an IVA is better known as a Trust Deed. Once you have made your final repayment, all outstanding debts are usually legally written off by your creditors.  Creditors are held to the agreed repayment amounts throughout an IVA and should not alter them.

Do you know that you have failed an IVA and wish to gain further help or advice.
or
Do you want more information about the alternatives to bankruptcy in England

If you would like to read our client testimonials in full please visit our client testimonial page for full details.

To find out if we can help you start to clear your debts, call 0800 018 3345 now!