More people 'miss utility bill payments'
Published On 2 July 2007
New research suggests that rising interest rates are forcing people to risk debt by missing things like utility bills.Data gathered by consumer website MoneyExpert.com found that 7.4 million household bill payments - including utility debts - have been missed in the UK in the last six months.
Every month since the beginning of the year around 1.23 million regular bill payments for things ranging from gas and electricity to mobile phones and council tax have been ignored.
"It is clear that many of us are under financial pressure," commented Sean Gardner, chief executive of the website. "The Bank of England has increased interest rates twice this year with the threat of a third rise during the summer.
"It was inevitable that once interest rates started rising that something had to give and it is worrying to find that people are missing basic household bills.
"Missing bills can lead to serious consequences from losing the service to being taken to court."
Last month, the website reported that rising interest rates were also forcing people to miss repayments on their homeowner loans.
