Personal debt in Scotland rockets
Increase in Scottish IVA's cause huge spikes in quarter on quarter insolvency figures
Personal insolvencies in Scotland have risen by a dramatic 137%, according to
personal debt advisers Invocas Group. This is in stark contrast to figures
published on Protected Trust Deeds which suggest a modest 1.6% increase quarter
on quarter.
Protected Trust Deeds are similar to Individual Voluntary Arrangements, but
are only available in Scotland.
Invocas predicts the actual increase of personal insolvencies is a rise from
6,158 in quarter one 2008, to 14,600 in Q1 2009.
Stephen Lightley, CEO of Invocas said: ‘The world changed so quickly last
year that people whose finances were already stretched rapidly found themselves
in an untenable position, perhaps made worse by unexpected redundancy and or
reduction in the household income.’
‘There are a number of potential alternatives before bankruptcy which can
make life much easier and stop debt becoming such a problem’ he added.
A PTD is also known as a Scottish Trust Deed, which entails a debtor repaying
money owed over a specified period of time with any remaining debt after that
period being written off.
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system may leave IPs in the dark