Thursday, May 28, 2009
Category:
Consolidation
According to uSwitch.com, their regional recession index has revealed that Britain’s rural and industrial areas have been subject to the greatest impact of the recession.
By examining salaries, levels of unemployment, property prices and council tax within 98 of the biggest local authorities over the past 2 years, several findings came to light.
The area to have suffered the most significant blow is reported to be Swindon, where house prices have fallen by 16 percent and unemployment has increased by 197 percent in the past year. In contrast the national unemployment level stands at 6.7 percent. The reason behind the 197 percent increase in unemployment in Swindon is down to the closure of numerable local manufacturing firms, thus resulting in the most significant number of people to be claiming job seekers allowance in the country.
Rhondda was also found to be adversely affected with the number of people claiming job seekers allowance rising by 105 percent. Combined with council tax increases of 5 percent and a 13.5 percent drop in house prices, this area of the Welsh Valleys would not appear to be thriving.
On the opposite end of the scale, and described as ‘recession proof’, is Brent where a 12 percent salary rise is recorded to have taken earnings from £22,506 to £25,220. The area is also home to a below-average increase in claims for job seekers allowance. In addition, Brent has seen council tax increases of just 1.9 percent compared to the average increase of 2.5 percent.
Where recession proof locations are concerned, in joint second place came Sefton and Enfield. The former experienced a 7 percent increase in average earnings, combined with just 46 percent more claims for job seekers allowance which is 20 percent less than the average nationwide increase.
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Homeowners who have found their living costs increase with rising council tax bills and increased energy prices, could consider reviewing their finances. If a large proportion of monthly income is being used to make monthly credit card and hire purchase payments, then they could consider grouping these debts together with a debt
consolidation loan. A debt consolidation loan will put all debts into one, so rather than having multiple bills for credit cards, store cards and hire purchase agreements, homeowners will just get one bill. What’s more, with a debt consolidation loan, they will know the exact amount and date payments need to be made each month. It should be remembered that consolidating debt may increase the amount you pay back overall and extend the repayment period of your debts.
