Latest Debt News
Brits suffering from illness of debt
21/11/2005 17:10:00
One in five people in the UK are "financial phobes" and debt is a type of illness, a new report has claimed.
The study, carried out by Professor Alan Lewis, a leading academic of economic psychology, revealed that 45 per cent of these "financial phobes" suffer from anxiety about their debts, with 12 per cent feeling physically ill.
Professor Lewis commented: "Consumption has become so important today that to have is to be. The tendency is to want more and to want it now.
"With the daily bombardment of finely tuned messages encouraging consumers to take out new credit cards and short terms loans, it is no surprise that many consumers find borrowing easy and safe."
Furthermore, consumers bury their heads in the sand until the situation becomes far more serious. The annual defaulting rate is expected to generate another £7.5 billion worth of debt.
As a result, the technology services provider Agilisys is trialling a new text alert scheme to help keep the "financial phobes" aware of their financial situation.
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