A Credit Union in North Somerset has seen its membership double in the past 12 months – following warnings about the dangers of pay-day loans.
The Somerset Savings and Loans, which was previously North Somerset Credit Union, has seen its membership increase in the last 12 months from 1,000 members to just under 2,000.
Its nearly Christmas and shoppers are being urged not to spoil the festive fun by creating mountains of personal debt which will take months to clear.
Instead there are other ways to make the most of what you have and consumers who are canny could end the year by saving themselves a few pounds.
Bristol Mayor George Ferguson will today be urged to continue with a "no evictions" policy over council tenants who fall into arrears because of the so-called "bedroom tax".
Tenants lose £12.70 a week in housing benefit if they are judged to have one bedroom more than they need or £23.90 a week if they have two bedrooms too many.
David Cameron has rejected a proposal from a senior Conservative MP to limit child benefit to two children for every family.
Nadhim Zahawi, a member of the No 10 Policy Board, called for child benefit and child tax credits to available only for a family’s first two children.
National debt advice charity the Money Advice Trust has reported that rent arrears are now the fastest growing debt problem in the UK.
The number of calls to the charity’s National Debtline service from people with rent arrears has risen significantly since the economic crisis first hit in 2007.
Two and a half million British adults will take out loans to heat their homes this Christmas, a social landlord's poll has revealed.
Circle Housing's survey found that around seven million (15%) British adults will take out a loan over the festive period to cover costs.
Given that you may have become used to hearing about the government tightening up on payments like housing benefits, you might be rather surprised to learn not just that the number of people who claim it has gone up by rather a lot, but also that the number of people with jobs who receive housing benefit has risen so much - an extra 310 every day claims the National Housing Federation.
That's not just because wages have stagnated so much, with many people coping with freezes to their pay, or only being able to find part-time work. But it's also down to very significant increases in the cost of private rents.
Last year, eight million loans, totalling £2billion, were agreed by high cost lenders and - “quick and easy” process costs can cause financial pain
It’s the most expensive time of the year for many Brits and with high street banks tough on who they will lend to many are forced to turn to a payday loan to help with the cost of christmas.
The recent case of a Reading landlord who was fined £12,000 for failing to maintain a rental property, is just one example of growing problem of dangerous properties that are putting tenants at risk, according to the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC).
Ravinder Singh Takhar, 57, was recently prosecuted under the Housing Act and Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act for failing to comply with regulations in respect of managing HMOs and one of failing to provide information in respect of a property. Takhar, a millionaire, owned and let a house which had been converted into four flats. The fire extinguisher had not been tested since November 2006, the rear garden had become overgrown with several discarded household items in it and a gap in metal railing at the front of the house was wide enough for a small child to fall through and down to the basement flat.
Four in 10 tenants say that they’ve needed to borrow money in order to pay a tenancy deposit, according to new figures from the leading tenancy deposit protection scheme, my|deposits.
The research, part of my|deposits’ quarterly Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) panel, also shows that the average tenant has paid £2,344 on tenancy deposits since renting property.