Church of England to offer debt advice

The Church of England has launched a campaign that is aimed at helping those that are suffering debt problems, including those that are suffering post-Christmas financial woes.

The campaign, simply called 'A Matter of Life and Debt', aims to offer valuable advice, support, and focus to those with debt issues to help them to resolve their debt problems effectively and without digging themselves in deeper.

The campaign includes offering advice, practical tips, guidance, and even prayers to help those in debt. There is a ten point check list that consumers are also given, which can help to indicate if they are headed towards serious debt problems. The checklist includes danger signs such as seeing your savings disappear or needing to take out one credit card or loan to repay another.

One church official stated: "If a household can say "yes" to any of the statements on the checklist, it may be on the verge of encountering serious debt issues, and should carefully consider taking some of the advice included in the pages of Matter of Life and Debt."

He added: "If a household can say "yes" to three or more of the warning signs it would be well advised to talk to a debt counselling service, such as the ones we link to online."

There is a biblical angle to the campaign by the Church of England, and much of the guidance will also be biblical with the focus being on being content to spend only what you can afford to spend. Many people are expected to declare themselves insolvent this year as a result of serious debt problems and even simply due to overspending over the Christmas period.

Tom Smith
15th January 2008

Recent News:

• Another house price drop for December [02.01.08]
  The Nationwide Building Society has reported a drop in house prices for December, which is further evidence of the downward spiral in house prices across the UK according to experts
  
• Lenders have positive outlook for 2008 [02.01.08]
  Despite the chaos that the credit crunch has already caused in the UK and other parts of the world the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association has stated that the result of a survey show that its members are remaining positive with regards to the outlook for the forthcoming year.
• Consumers in debt getting hassled by banks [19.12.07]
  A recent report has shown how some of the major high street banks in the UK are pestering customers that are in debt in order to try and get them to take out a more expensive loan in order to deal with their debt issues, whilst actually making the situation worse in many cases.
  
• Complaints over mortgage charges soar [15.12.07]
  A recent report has shown that over the past twelve months the level of consumer complaints relating to mortgage costs and charges have soared, reflecting the improvement that lenders need to make to their services.
  
• Watch out for the bogus debt advice company [06.12.07]
  Consumers in the UK are being urged to look out for a bogus debt advice company that is offering dodgy advice in order to profit from consumers' misery.
  
• First time buyers still struggling to get onto property ladder [06.12.07]
  According to a report from the Council of Mortgage Lenders first time buyers are still struggling to get onto the property ladder, with costs for first time buyers on the rise.