Home > News > Debt in scotland

Initiative announced to support Scottish people in debt More Scots with extreme credit card debts, charity reports Govt actions `could lead to debt for pensioners` Middle-class families in south-east `most in debt` Scottish bankruptcies double BBC Scotland looks at effects of debt on health Scotland avoids house price decline Optimism for Scottish economy Demand for staff in Scotland highest in UK Scots `faring better from credit crunch` Scottish markets "remarkably robust" Crunch `affecting Scottish consumers worse` Scots `feel inflation to be 8.4 percent` Scots calm as UK `goes switching crazy` Scottish house prices `dropped at end of 2007` Debt problems grow for Scots as bankruptcies soar Scots `positive` over new year debts Generous Scots spreading festive cheer Areas of Scotland `most indebted in the UK` Scottish house prices soar

Rising house prices `may conceal debt problems in Scotland`

02/07/2007

Although rising house prices in Scotland may point to economic wellbeing, they can also lead to problems with debt, it has been claimed.

Writing in Scotland on Sunday, professor Donald MacRae, chief economist of Lloyds TSB Scotland, said that "distorted choices" in the housing market due to inflated prices could be leading people towards debt problems.

He explained that the size of the average deposit for a first-time buyer in Scotland rose to 33 per cent of household income in 2006, up from the 12 per cent of income which was required in 2000.

"Put another way, the amount of time taken by a typical first-time buyer in Scotland to save a deposit equal to 5 per cent of the purchase price is now 45 months. Ten years previously, it was 27 months," he stated.

In related debt management news, recent research from Sainsbury`s Bank revealed that 2.8 million Britons are afraid of their financial problems.

More than 4 million fear they`ll be made redundant 16/12/2010 - According to R3`s quarterly personal debt tracker, more than 4 Consumers took on more mortgage debt in July 26/08/2010 - Consumers took on £2bn more mortgage debt than they repaid Debts called in by parents 26/08/2010 - According to research, `the bank of Mum and Dad` is Teenagers `scared of debt` 19/08/2010 - Nearly two thirds of teenagers are `scared` of debt, according