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Average UK Debt Tops £4,400
Added: (Mon Feb 02 2004)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Average UK Debt Tops £4,400
FinanceFish.co.uk challenges you to save money
02.02.04 – Every adult in the United Kingdom owes on average £4,400 excluding mortgages, showing an increase of over 30% or £1,000 compared to last year, with 1 in 10 adults owing in excess of £30,000.
Most borrowing comes in the form of credit cards or store cards, which offer immediate discounts to consumers at the time of joining whilst at the checkout. What most people are unaware of, are the extremely high interest rates associated with store cards, in some cases 3½ times higher than an average credit card.
The illustration below is correct at 02.02.04, and is based on a well known Store Card and an Internet Credit Card:
Store Card
Outstanding balance - £1000
Minimum monthly payment - 4% or £10 whichever is lowest
Time to clear balance - 9 Years 5 Years
Total interest charged - £950
Credit Card
Outstanding balance - £1000
Minimum monthly payment - 4% or £10 whichever is lowest
Time to clear balance - 5 Years, 7 Months
Total interest charged - £165
The above example shows that by moving a £1,000 balance from a store card (APR of 29.9%), to a credit card (APR of 8.3%), over £780 can be saved in interest charges, and the outstanding balance can be cleared in almost half the time.
The Finance Fish website highlights other areas where vast savings can be made, covering subject matters such as household utility providers. Following the announcement that from 10.01.04 British Gas will raise gas and electricity prices by 5.9% affecting its 12.5m customers, it is no wonder that consumers are now seeing the benefits of shopping around.
Over a period of nine months British Gas have increased gas and electricity prices by a total of 8.4%, and ‘energywatch’, the gas and electricity watchdog, estimate that over the past three-years British Gas have increased gas prices by over 15% - more than twice the rate of inflation for the same period.
On average 167,000 UK households each week switch their energy supplier, with an average saving of £140. Finance Fish offers consumers links to comparison engines and advice, ensuring that they get the best deal available to them!
So confident are Finance Fish of helping consumers to reduce their monthly outgoings, we challenge anybody to follow out 8 Top Tips found at www.FinanceFish.co.uk, and see how much can be saved over a 12 month period.
Contact Information:
FinanceFish.co.uk
62 Hillfield Drive,
Heswall,
Wirral.
CH61 6UJ
http://www.financefish.co.uk