8 April 2008
Rising debt levels in Bristol have meant that almost 40,000 households could have their property repossessed.
New figures released by Experian have said that 39,763 homes in the city can now be classed as sub-prime, which means that they have not been able to obtain credit from high street service providers, reports the Evening Post.
Chris Skidmore, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Kingswood, stated that people are taking on too much debt, possibly in the form of secured loans, something that is putting them in a precarious situation.
"Food and household bills are rising two-and-a-half times the rate of inflation on average, and twice as fast as in Europe," he told the publication.
"A lot of people's fixed mortgage terms are coming to an end, so they are having to pay more."
Such views were matched by a money specialist for the Citizens Advice Bureau in Bristol Andy Steward who said that people may get into difficulty if they have to move jobs.
The Bank of England should cut the base rate of interest this week in the wake of tighter lending conditions, Howard Archer from Global Insight has claimed.
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