'New year, new start' ethos should apply to personal finances
Published On 10 January 2008
People should view the onset of a new year as an occasion to assess the state of their personal finances, according to the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS).The charity has stated that this represents a good time for people to get their personal finances in order, in keeping with the 'new year, new start' spirit.
Frances Walker, spokesperson for CCCS, has made recommendations on the best way to do this.
"You need to sit down and do a budget. You need to do an annual budget and then divide it by 12, so that you can take account of things that come in quarterly or your car insurance that comes in annually," she said.
Ms Walker also urged people to settle their debts early, to avoid paying out greater interest at a later date.
"If people have used a lot of credit cards over Christmas they really need to be paying back more than just the minimum payments," Ms Walker advised.
On January 4th, 2008 total UK debt stood at £1,400 billion, according to statistics produced by money education charity Credit Action.
