The number of people who have run up debts of over £100,000 has risen sharply. Paula John reports
According to the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), 2.7% of those who looked to it for help and advice in 2005 owed more than £100,000 on top of any mortgage debt.
The figure may not look huge but is […]

The number of entrepreneurs starting up new businesses has risen substantially in the first three months of the year, research has revealed.
Research from Barclays showed that 110,300 new businesses started up in the first quarter of 2006, almost one-quarter more than in the same period last year (88,800).
John Davis, marketing director for local […]

The number of people going bankrupt is set to rise sharply, according to a report by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
The DTI estimates that the number of insolvencies would double by March 2009 to 28,000 a quarter if the current rates of increase are maintained. This is on the back of a record […]

Scottish businesses are failing to harness the internet to boost orders and sales, new figures from the Lloyds TSB Scotland Business Monitor have shown.
The report revealed that only 60 per cent of Scottish production and manufacturing companies and just 72 per cent of service firms had websites.
Some 53 per cent of the production sector and […]

Pensioners’ costs have risen by a third (34 per cent) in the last ten years, new research from Clerical Medical has found.
The Clerical Medical Pensions Report measured pensioner inflation including housing costs, which account for 25 per cent of the average pensioner’s expenditure and found that pensioner inflation was 3.9 per cent, the highest it […]

Almost a half of all British adults (45%) carry credit cards in their wallets that they haven’t used in the last 12 months, a new report has claimed.
The Morgan Stanley Credit Card report investigated the use of plastic by British credit cardholders and found that the average UK adult carries 1.2 cards in their wallet.
However, […]

Nearly 10% of women are saving money without informing their partners, a survey undertaken by investment firm Scottish Widows has found.
This activity is partly due to females wanting to achieve financial independence before embarking on a long-term relationship and it is estimated that half-a-million women are building up their savings like this.
The survey found that […]

House purchasers spent an additional £1bn on Stamp Duty in the second quarter of 2006, despite the starting threshold for the tax being increased in March.
A combination of higher house prices and increased numbers of transactions resulted in the increase, according to research from Portman Building Society.
The average homebuyer paid £3,735 in Stamp duty, while […]