Article by Phil
The latest Bank of England money and credit report has revealed large increases in debt according to warnings from money advisors.
The report showed that mortgage debt rose to over £7 billion in March and increase of £2.4 billion over the previous month. This increase is a result of an increase in the Bank of England base rate (now raised even further to 1% in early May) and an increase in new mortgages. According to the Yorkshire Building Society, mortgage approvals were over 70,000 which is 5,000 up on the same time last year.
Despite this there are concerns about mortgage affordability going forward as a result of increases in the cost of living. Last month its reported that over 25% of mortgage applications were declined which is an early indication that things could be changing.
According to warnings from Money Advisors, credit card debt also increased by £1.3 billion in March, with £0.8 billion of that new lending. This compares to the first quarter of 2021 during the pandemic when over £3 billion of credit card debt was re-paid, now it’s the other way around with £2.1 billion of extra credit card debt in the first quarter.
All this with inflation at 7% its highest level in 30 years.
In the meantime, more warnings about new screen share scams.
It seems that there has been an 82% increase in this new type of scam costing customers over £25 million.
This is where fraudsters convince customers to download software in order to share data when actually they are gaining access to the customers computer system remotely. From there the fraudsters are able to access bank accounts and investments etc even applying for loans in the victim’s name. Sharing and downloading has become more normal over the course of the pandemic with the growth of Apps like Teams and Zoom and fraudsters are exploiting this new more relaxed approach from some users.
So please beware and listen to warnings from Money Advisors.
Often the fraudsters gain a foothold by encouraging click through in online adverts. Mainly these are adverts which promote significant returns on investments, or where the adverts implied expertise in investments and savings products.
Amazingly to us, 25% of people said they would share their banking details online to someone they had never met!
Please never do this.
