1 in 5 Britons are struggling to pay their debt and bills according to a new survey by YouGov and R3

Oct. 1, 2008 - PRLog -- There have been three main causes highlighted as contributory factors in the huge escalation of personal debt. These are; ‘Misuse of credit cards’, ‘borrowing without thinking about how to repay the money’ and ‘irresponsible lending by credit providers’

At Sterling Trust, we have been hearing constantly how people have been forced to subsidise their living costs due to inadequate wages and increasing bills. This is not a new phenomenon, but has been ongoing for the last few years, in fact since the introduction of the "National Minimum Wage".

The NMW has been counterproductive in many areas, actually reducing wages to a socially acceptable minimum, and hampering calls for periodic increases in line with, or above inflation. Those who chase to abuse the system previously, continue to do so and it is therefore highly questionable how much benefit has been gained.

We have been inundated by enquiries since launching the site and are delighted to think it has been a success in helping people to overcome their financial difficulties. One of the main areas for concern is the way that people are allegedly bullied into making payments to their credit card, loans and other forms of unsecured debts in preference to their mortgage, rent, council tax and utilities.

The Government should clamp down on the way creditors and their collection agents represent themselves and the way they conduct telephone conversations. A lot of the letters they send out are also deliberately designed to be misleading and frighten people into making payments, which actually contravene the Administration of Justice Act 1970, for which they can be held accountable in a court of law.

The whole of the debt industry needs cleaning up and legislation should be introduced to protect clients more when they get into difficulties. Although most lenders say they want to help, the reality is often quite different. The bank who likes to say "Yes" is apparently now saying, "On your bike!"

The whole banking system is in total freefall and as a result nobody can predict what will happen. With all the mergers and takeovers currently happening and more undoubtedly around the corner, massive changes are sure to happen fairly soon. It remains to be seen how this will all unfold over the coming weeks, months and years.

One thing is absolutely certain, you cannot possibly borrow your way out of debt and expecting to do so is madness. Historically, this is what "Responsible Lenders" have been advising us to do, in search of bottom-line profits. So just how "Responsible" does that actually make them?

If you are having difficulty in repaying your debts or are getting into arrears with your other bills because of them, visit us at www.sterlingtrust.org.uk and see if we can offer you a solution. We provide the website and all the forms, letters and instructions you should need to manage your debts totally free of charge.

The website is undergoing continual development (funds allowing) to try and improve the service and make it easier to use, so if you have any useful suggestions on how we might improve it, please contact us. This is your site so please feel free to make the most of it.

www.sterlingtrust.org.uk

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Free debt help charity that enables anybody with an unsecured debt problem to manage and control it themselves. Simple to use but very powerful and totally free from charge. There are 3 simple steps to debt freedom, take the first one now!