Friday 31 August 2007

Britons have never owed so much money. After five increases in interest rates in a year, personal debt is now rising by a billion pounds every five minutes. Jasmine Birtles is the author of several self-help guides to money and runs a website that helps people to get out of debt.

With bankruptcies doubling in the past two years, she’s never been busier. Jasmine believes one reason is that it’s just too easy to obtain loans and credit cards. She argues that people who are already deeply in debt and have no incoming resources to repay it should not be passing the scrutiny of the lenders.