7:00pm Monday 4th February 2008
By Joanna Codd
CITIZENS' Advice Bureaux are concerned about a huge rise in the number of people seeking help over debt.
The charity's adviser at Bournemouth County Court has seen an increase of around 30 per cent in repossession cases since the same time last year.
Martin Broad, manager of Bourne-mouth CAB, said: "Even at a late stage, Citizens' Advice can intervene, with a high success rate, to reach an agreement so people can stay in their homes."
He said the problem was linked to rises in interest rates, but added: "Debt can be down to irresponsible spending, but it's not always mismanagement that leads people into a change of circumstances."
Richard Bristow, manager of Poole CAB, said: "It's quite usual for us to see new debt cases in January and February. What's noticeable this year is that we didn't have a pre-Christmas dip.
"A lot of fixed rate mortgages are coming to an end. Some people will see a hike in interest rates of two to three per cent. In itself, that isn't much, but if someone is stretching to meet other payments, that increase will push them over the edge. If you go back to the early 1990s, mortgage rates hit 15 per cent, but the average mortgage was probably £50,000. Now it's £150,000, therefore it takes less of a hike to have a significant impact."
Mr Bristow said mortgage lenders had been "bending over backwards to push money at people" four to five years ago.
Although the CAB had advisers in county court to try and head off repossessions by negotiating directly with lenders, he admitted the situation was getting more and more difficult.
"We're at capacity. We're seeing more problems with debt than anything else from people from all ages and backgrounds. Repossession has huge knock-on implications for the whole of society."
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