- 29
- Aug
Consumers up and down the country are becoming increasingly concerned about continued rises in the cost of living, as the prices of items such as food, fuel and energy all carry on escalating, an expert has warned.
Indeed the general public is “very worried” about such rising costs, the director of lifetime mortgages at Prudential Keith Haggart said. He argued that while people claim not to have experienced any impact from the credit crunch over the course of the last year, the majority of people are actually concerned about how further cost increases will affect them.
“We did some research with several hundred consumers about the credit crunch and whether it would affect them and the majority said that they hadn’t seen any impact from the credit crunch at all. But there were other questions in there about petrol prices and electricity prices and the vast majority said they were very concerned about the effects of rising fuel, petrol and food bills,” said Mr Haggart.
He added that when a question is posed in a different way, different answers are offered and that consumers say the ongoing effects of the credit crunch do not affect them, but when they are asked about prices, people will openly admit to being concerned.
Consumers who do have such concerns may wish to consider the benefits that a personal loan can bring to individual finances. Opting to choose a low cost personal loan may help consumers who have a number of debts to consolidate their monthly outgoings and as a result keep greater control over their personal finances.
Currently, inflation is rising at its fastest level for 11 years, the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics have revealed. In July, the consumer price index showed there had been a 4.4 per cent rise in inflation, up from 3.8 per cent in June and 3.3 per cent in May. As well as this, overall consumer confidence is currently low, the latest Inflation Attitudes survey from the Bank of England has revealed. Indeed people now perceive inflation to be at 4.9 per cent, whereas in February this year they believed it to be 3.9 per cent.
And the Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index, published this month, demonstrated that falling house prices, job losses and increased living costs were all reasons why people were less confident about the state of both their own finances and the national economy. Overall confidence in the index stood at 51 in July, 11 points lower than the previous month. The figure was some 46 per cent lower than at the same point last year, which is the largest fall on record.
However some consumers are prepared to avoid the effects of the credit crunch and take to the shops, but in doing so they should remember that certain store cards may well offer uncompetitive rates, Alliance & Leicester revealed, particularly when compared to other forms of borrowing, such as a credit card or a competitive cheap personal loan. The bank warned that consumers who are using such cards may find that they are being stung by the uncompetitive rates over the course of the summer spending season.
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