Household Finances

Recent surveys of over 2000 households have suggested that people are still struggling on stretched budgets.
The Bank of England's annual poll has concluded that over 50% of households struggled to meet credit card debts and other unsecured credit payments.

Almost a quarter of those surveyed said that they had cut back on spending because it was so hard to borrow or that they had concerns about over extending and then not being able to get the credit to service their needs.
The vast proportion of the survey, over 90%, felt that they would be hit by Government financial measures.

In contrast to this, however, less than half of those surveyed had put in place measures, such as reinforcing savings, to overcome this.

Around 50% of the survey said that they had concerns over debt levels and that these concerns had increased, over the last two years, in the wake of the credit crunch.

Again, half of the survey perceived that borrowing had become more difficult, especially those with high loan to value (LTV) mortgages.

As highlighted, almost a quarter of households are considering or have resorted to using credit cards and loans to meet bills. Although worrying, this is still below levels reported in the 2008 survey.