Personal Debt a Bigger Issue to 1/3 of Brits Than Terrorism, Healthcare and the Environment

Personal Debt a Bigger Issue to 1/3 of Brits Than Terrorism, Healthcare and the Environment

LONDON, August 2/PRNewswire/ --

- IVA.co.uk Debt Evening Explores Developments in the Insolvency Industry
Through Lively Debate

Personal debt was revealed as a key issue to Brits in research conducted
by IVA.co.uk, the UK's biggest online IVA community for information and
advice about Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), and presented at the
IVA.co.uk Debt Evening on 1st August.

Held two days before the release of the Department of Trade and
Industry's insolvency statistics for Q2 2007, the IVA.co.uk Debt Evening was
attended by a host of insolvency and credit professionals, press and
consumers.

According to the research, conducted for IVA.co.uk by Ipsos MORI, almost
a third of Brits (31%) rate personal debt as a more important issue in
Britain than Terrorism, Healthcare and the Environment, with almost 1 in 10
(9.3%) rating debt as the no.1 issue in Britain.

The research also revealed that 8 out of 10 Brits (84%) believe that
financial credit (such as loans, credit cards etc.) is too easy to obtain,
while almost two thirds (61%) believe that going insolvent (going bankrupt or
taking out an IVA) is also too easy.

Following the presentation of the research, an hour-long debate took
place which looked at 4 key issues surrounding debt and insolvency:

- The relationship between creditors, consumers and the debt
solutions industry.

- The Simple IVA and its implications.

- Regulation of the debt solutions industry.

- The macroeconomic effect of the IVA.

The expert panel was made up of:

- Mark Allen, partner at Grant Thornton.

- Dr Karl Taylor, reader in economics at the University of Sheffield.

- Jonathan Said, senior economist at the CEBR (Centre for Economics
and Business Research).

- Vincent Cable, MP for Twickenham.

The event was filmed and will be available to view on IVA.co.uk's online
television channel, IVA TV (tv.iva.co.uk).

A full transcription of the IVA.co.uk Debt Evening debate will be
viewable here: http://tv.iva.co.uk/debtevening

Further information can be found by visiting
http://debtevening.iva.co.uk/.

Key comments from the expert panel and attendees follow below:

On communication between creditors, debtors and debt solution providers:

Vincent Cable

The relationship between debt and income in Britain is now roughly 160
ratio %, which is the highest it has ever been in our history, and the
highest in the developed world, and that's partly a product of the
deregulation of credit.

Mark Allen

There wasn't a relationship 18 months ago. When the IVAs went up by 40%
last year and it was hitting the bad debt revisions, the banks certainly
wanted a higher involvement, and so I think there could be better
understanding on both sides.

The Simple IVA:

Mark Allen

We need to show that we are in a heavily regulated industry, there is
alignment of fees, and there is a sharing of benefits, and if we can do that,
then we can move forward.

Ian Holland, Debt Resolution Forum

One thing that I find the most disappointing is that banks don't seem to
recognise that they're part of the problem; they don't think they've done it
wrong.

Regulation of the lending and insolvency industry:

Vincent Cable

Lending and the promotion of lending is largely unregulated...
institutions have no incentives to show any restraints or responsibility.

Dr Karl Taylor

The issue for me is whether the individuals and households actually have
the financial assets to cover any secured / non-secured debt that they have.

The macroeconomic situation:

Jonathan Said

If you compare the United Kingdom with the continent, the UK does have a
freer economy where the government plays less of a role (...) we do need to
accept that the standards of living that we have as a collective are
essentially driven by people taking risks, credit.

Dr Karl Taylor

(Consumer debt is) an important part of the economy, because obviously
debt drives consumer expenditure, and that is a large proportion of GDP, so I
don't think that things are going to change drastically in the future.

Notes to Editor:

About IVA.co.uk

IVA.co.uk is the UK's biggest online IVA community for information and
advice about Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs). It is a leading
authority on debt and finance in the UK.

IVA.co.uk was formed in 2005 to help improve understanding of debt and
debt solutions in Britain by providing expert advice and a live forum
alongside a regular roundup of the latest news, statistics, and research from
the world of debt solutions.

The 'IVA Forum' (iva.co.uk/forum) was launched in Jan 2006 to enable the
community to discuss IVA issues. The IVA forum now has 2,800 members and over
30,000 posts.

Online TV channel 'IVA TV' (tv.iva.co.uk) was launched in December 2006
to report on issues surrounding IVAs and debt. IVA TV combines interviews,
news reports and video guides with programs devised and created by members of
the IVA.co.uk community.

'IVA Community Blogs' (blogs.iva.co.uk) was launched in January 2007 to
provide free blogging space for anyone from the IVA community. IVA bloggers
include: people undergoing an IVA; IVA Forum posters; and experts who use the
space to comment on news and give personal views on IVA issues.

IVA.co.uk also hosts a free helpline, providing advice on all debt
solutions (0800 197 4838). The IVA helpline advisers are provided by debt
solutions provider, Thomas Charles.

IVA.co.uk was created by, and is maintained by, Community121
(www.community121.com), builders of niche community websites.

The survey:

All research was commissioned by IVA.co.uk and conducted by Ipsos MORI.

Total sample size was 1000 adults aged 16 - 64. Fieldwork was undertaken
between 20 - 24th July 2007. The survey was carried out by an online omnibus.
The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (16 -
64).

Key tables are given below:

Thinking about Great Britain as a whole, can you please put the issues
below in order of importance to you:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Most 2nd Most 3rd Most 4th Most 5th Most 6th Most Least
Impor Impor Impor Impor Impor Impor Impor
-tant -tant -tant -tant -tant -tant -tant
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal 9.3% 8.4% 10.0% 12.3% 17.6% 31.4% 10.9%
debt
Education 14.5% 21.7% 19.5% 17.5% 12.5% 11.1% 3.1%
Health-
care 29.6% 28.3% 19.5% 13.0% 7.8% 1.5% 0.2%
Transport 2.8% 7.9% 14.9% 20.1% 27.3% 22.8% 4.2%
Terrorism 24.4% 14.5% 15.4% 13.8% 14.3% 12.4% 5.3%
The
Environ-
ment 13.9% 17.6% 17.4% 21.2% 15.9% 10.2% 3.7%
Another
issue 5.5% 1.6% 3.2% 2.0% 4.6% 10.5% 72.6%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------
Rated personal debt Percentage of
above respondents
---------------------------------------
Education 31.3%
Healthcare 20.8%
Transport 45.3%
Terrorism 31.3%
Environment 31.8%
---------------------------------------

Financial credit (such as loans, credit cards etc)
is too easy to obtain in Great Britain
---------------------------------------
Percentage of
respondents
---------------------------------------
Strongly agree 51.1%
Tend to agree 32.9%
Neither agree nor 11.4%
disagree
Tend to disagree 3.6%
Strongly disagree 1.1%
Total Agree 84%
Total Disagree 4.7%
---------------------------------------

Going insolvent (i.e. going bankrupt or taking out an Individual
Voluntary Arrangement) is too easy in Great Britain.
---------------------------------------
Percentage of
respondents
---------------------------------------
Strongly agree 29.1%
Tend to agree 31.8%
Neither agree nor 30.2%
disagree
Tend to disagree 7.0%
Strongly disagree 1.8%
Total Agree 61%
Total Disagree 8.8%
---------------------------------------

For further information please contact:

Alison Melville
Press Officer
+44-(0)20-8328-9495

Source: IVA.co.uk

For further information please contact: Alison Melville, Press Officer, +44-(0)20-8328-9495, Alison@iva.co.uk

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