An uncompetitive financial services market and the expense of declaring bankruptcy are leading people into "problem debt", according to a report.
The government should help by making it easier to found "community banks" offering cheaper loans, according to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ). Employers should also help their workers save, it said. A £525 fee to declare bankruptcy is stopping many people from doing so, the report suggests. Almost half of people with unmanageable debts say it has harmed their health. Such debts keep people poor and entrap others, the CSJ report said. Credit unions currently serve more than one million customers, lending a total of £600m, but because of current regulations they are "often unable to serve the poorest in society who would most benefit from them", said the report.....Read more here