New year, new start! That’s how you might think many people across the UK have started 2012. But it appears, if you think this, you could be wrong.

According to a poll by First Direct, the biggest financial worries of the year in 2011 were not saving enough and not paying off enough debt – that sounds like a catch 22 to me.

Other worries are quoted as spending too much on a partner, lending or borrowing money from family, or, paying for an expensive holiday.

So whilst we enter the early stages of January 2012, I have to ask, what were your biggest worries in 2011 and where do you think 2012 might lead you?

For some, I hope it will lead to being debt free – to being more financially aware and confident in budgeting more effectively. For others, it might mean sleeping easier at night, carrying out the weekly shop without breaking out in a sweat or even finding the courage to stay away from the shops and cut down on the non essential spending.

We’d love to know your “financial new year’s resolutions” so leave a comment and your ideas could inspire others who might not be feeling so positive about their opportunities for 2012. Alternatively you can share your positive thoughts on the ClearDebt facebook wall or via twitter to @cleardebt and @jax76.

We’re giving away a £25 voucher for the most thoughtful comment submitted so share yours now!

We often give creditors a hard time for some of the things they do to customers. Rightly so in our view; so it’s only fair that, when we see a bank bending over backwards to help over-indebted customers, that we should be fulsome in our praise. So, take a bow Co-op:

Co-operative Bank current account customers will have interest on agreed overdrafts frozen for three months in order to provide a helping hand to those struggling with post-Christmas debts.

The Co-op, which has 1.5 million current account customers, says someone using a £2,000 agreed overdraft would save £75 in fees in the three-month offer period, while a customer with a debt of £500 could save more than £18.

Click to enlarge © Copyright Co-operative Banking Group

Of course Co-op aren’t being entirely altruistic. We are sure they see good marketing sense in this. They are a mutual, after all (owned by their customers) and this initiative will certainly help people believe that they care for the people who have accounts with them. But, this tiny pinch of salt apart, this has to be a helpful thing to do.

It’s important to note this applies to arranged overdrafts only – take an un-arranged overdraft from Co-op and you’ll still be in the doo-doo.

We often recommend Co-op to our customers if they need to change bank accounts (too late to do this? – you could look at our pre-paid card, ClearCash: commercial over!). And we also applaud them because (along with Barclays) they are the only bank to offer a basic current account to undischarged bankrupts.

We wonder if other banks will join Co-op in taking the post-Christmas pressure off?

We asked their trade association British Bankers’ Association via Twitter:

@Andrew_F_Smith @Gemma_Payplan Nothing! Trade associations cannot have any involvement in their members’ pricing strategies

— Brian Mairs (@BritishBankers) January 4, 2012

Well, we are going to ask the other banks through their social networking identities and we’ll report any response we get here.

Meanwhile, credit where credit is due. Here is all the coverage we could find of Co-op’s initiative:

We are going to email all our customers who we know have Co-op accounts to draw attention to this good news.

Happy New Year everyone.

Oh, and, if you want to know more about creditors activities we’ve discovered in the past, then take a look at these links:

• ClearDebt Community thread – no contact from debt collectors then suddenly a threat of court action
• ClearDebt Community thread – problems with Unicom debts
• ClearDebt Community thread – can my creditors force me to set up a direct debit to pay my debts?
• ClearDebt blog – Lloyds TSB: letters to people in debt management plans