Debt cases rise 20%

CONSUMER PROBLEMS with housing debt rose 20% last year, according to Citizens Advice statistics published yesterday on people needing its help.

The charity dealt with 127,000 housing debt problems – including problems with mortgages, secured loans and rent arrears – in 2005/06. Nearly 10,000 of these were people threatened with repossession and 2,000 facing actual repossession or eviction. The rate of increase in housing debt problems was almost double the 11% increase in overall cases dealt with by its advice bureaux. They also dealt with 45% more cases of householders with council tax debt problems.

Chief executive David Harker said:

“We are particularly concerned by the sharp rise in enquiries from people getting behind with mortgage payments and having trouble paying council tax, gas and electricity bills, at a time when court action that can lead to repossession is on the increase, and fuel prices are rising steeply. This is likely to lead to more people than ever experiencing the sort of serious debt problems our advisers are already seeing day in day out.”