Saturday, April 19, 2008

The reduced availability of cheap balance transfer deals on credit cards is already having repercussions on peoples' finances, according to a UK debt charity.

Over the last decade, Britons have become used to being able to manage their debt through attractive zero per cent balance transfer deals.

However, in the wake of the credit crunch lenders have tightened their lending criteria and are far less willing to offer such deals to consumers.

As a result cheap interest-free balance transfers are "going to be very hard to come by, if not non-existent" in the next few months, according to Beccy Boden-Wilks of National Debtline.

This is already impacting on customers, she added with the number of enquiries relating to mortgage arrears received by the charity on the increase.

"If people can't afford their non-priority debts anymore sometimes they'll stop paying their mortgage as well. It's definitely having a knock-on effect," Ms Boden-Wilks said.

Source: http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/pricesnews/investnews/