A leading debt advice charity published a single figure a few weeks ago that helps explain why the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, is casting about for reasons not to increase interest rates when unemployment drops below 7.1%.
In what was billed as Debt Awareness Week, the StepChange charity was contacted by new clients who owe a total of £230 million.
It’s not clear how many people sought advice on managing their debts from the helpline and website, but it’s a worrying sign of fragility in the recovery. The charity has an online guide to the danger signs of debt, aimed at individuals whose family finances are getting out of control as the unpaid bills mount up.
Much of that money will be owed to banks and credit card companies, a percentage to local authorities in unpaid council tax, or to the utilities for gas, electricity and water.
But a proportion will be owed to suppliers of goods and services in small and medium-sized enterprises up and down the country.
The people who run SMEs can little afford to have unpaid accounts piling up, especially when they might be considering going to the banks to borrow money to fund expansion plans timed to take advantage of the economic upturn. A growing stack of invoices that cannot be marked as paid off is a danger sign of debt for business.
That’s where SJ Collections comes in. We have long experience of helping companies to get the money they are owed. And our no collection, no commission service guarantees that you won’t be out of pocket.
Please click on the links above to find out more about the SJ Collections service and to get in touch. And if you want to know more about StepChange then follow the links above to their website.