During the past few days we have been on the virtual campaign trail in support of Funts – financial untouchables – lobbying prospective parliamentary candidates for their support of improved legislation for a fairer treatment of people that fall into debt.  We have created an opportunity to get personal debt issues back on the political map.

This is how you can make a difference and spread the word.

Our recent survey shows that a  scandalously small number of parliamentary candidates are interested in changing the law to help people in personal debt (14%).

And there is a huge variation between the parties too with (this surprised us) the LibDems being by far the least responsive of all the major parties (7%: Labour – 20% and Conservative – 15%).

Of the 358 parliamentary candidates that did answer, more than nine out of ten were in favour of law changes that would help people with debt problems. Read the full findings of the politicians survey about debt.

If you support our efforts to get the real debt noticed by Britons politicians please read on.

Spread the word:

1. Recommend this to your friends on Facebook.

2. Hit this Twitter button to spread the word.

Want to contact your local candidate? Great, there are lots of ways to identify who are your prospective candidates. We recommend you use the excellent services publically available  such as Tweetminster, the BBC UK election, YourNextMP.

Go the whole hog and email them? Excellent, we can help you.

3. Email your candidate

As a start here´s some text which you are welcome to copy and paste into your email.

I am one of your constituents. Like 11% of your voters, I have had a hard time struggling with personal debt – and without much help from government. I can’t understand why only one in seven parliamentary candidates like you could be bothered to show their support for initiatives that will help encourage people in debt to do something about it and which will prevent future discrimination by the banks and credit card companies. Your party’s consumer debt policy seems to be all about helping people to avoid debt in the first place and to do nothing for the millions that are in debt up to their necks and can’t cope. Please will you show your support for this important, and huge, group of voters by leaving a comment on this blog: http://bit.ly/funts (Your responses will be broadcast across the web through Facebook and Twitter – so other voters will see it). You might even want to challenge your fellow candidates on the issue. If you want the latest facts about debt where you are standing, you can find them here: http://bit.ly/UKDebtData1 Please help us. People in debt are amongst the most overlooked groups in Britain – it’s all well and good changing laws to help prevent overindebtedness, but there are millions of taxpayers whose personal financial situation is in danger of collapse over the next couple of years. Our economic revival is dependent on consumer spending. Do you really want a flood of bankruptcies?

Be warned though, your prospective candidates are very busy people just right now, but remember they need your vote and that´s one thing we can all be clear about.

Questions? Leave them below in the comments.

Thanks for your support.

With an election looming, now seems as good a time as any to ask the question, “who is going to be the knight in shining armour for those struggling with debt?”

We’ve all seen the figures, 1 in 10 adults have a debt problem, and that’s just those who have admitted it. In reality, you can probably double that figure if you include those that do not yet realise the problem, or those too proud or foolish to admit it. There are 43 Million people eligible to vote in the UK, so that is, potentially, up to 10.6 Million people with one thing in common. That’s a lot of votes, if only someone had the initiative to go after those votes.

As an example, when a debt problem arises, around 85% of people have to change banks, most of whom have to open a basic account. According to the FSA site, one third of banks operate basic accounts without a debit card facility. In this day and age, a debit card is a necessity, not a luxury. Who is going to call the banks in and ask them why on earth these facilities are not provided?

That is just one example, and there are many more. Perhaps you can share yours with us?

If you haven’t taken part in ClearDebt’s poll on your plans to vote this election please click here, and why not also see if your home town features on the top ten list of UK’s indebted towns?

A survey by UK leading debt solution company, ClearDebt confirms the number of people in the UK struggling with debt continues to rise.

Using data from just over 16,000 people with debt worries, the research shows that the number of people in debt is increasing, whilst the amount of debt they are in is decreasing.

• Debt concerns up by 13%
• Indebted Britons owe £22,000, would take minimum of 39 months to repay debts
• Harrogate debtors owe most in Britain (£41,667 in credit cards and loans). Shrewsbury debtors would take longest to repay (85 months).

Homeowners with debt worries see equity rise (but debtors in NW London have negative equity of – £70,000, after all debts repaid.

The research by ClearDebt confirms a 13% increase of people with debt worries between October 2009 and March 2010 in comparison to those with money worries in October 2008 – March 2009.  The survey also shows debts owed by these people have declined by nearly £5,000 over the same period. ClearDebt believe that whilst the numbers of people with debt worries is rising, heightened awareness of debt issues means that they are seeking advice earlier in the cycle of debt – which may make it easier for them to resolve the problem.

In 2009 the average British homeowner would have been left owing more than £7,812 if they sold up to repay all their debt, this year they’d have nearly £8,400 left for a deposit on a new home.

CEO of ClearDebt, David Mond explains,

The number of people asking us for debt help has increased by 13% between the two periods (October 09 – March 10 in comparison to the same period in 2008/09). What we are seeing is more people than ever before seeking help but with lesser debts. For me, Britain’s personal debt issues are getting more worrying, not less.

A survey by the Commons public accounts committee shows that 11% of UK voters have serious debt worries. We have pointed out that these funts (financial untouchables – people who are trying to deal with their debt but are still disenfranchised by banks) are being treated unfairly by the financial community: Britain’s debt worries could make a big difference to May 6 election result – if they push political parties to change their views on debt.

ClearDebt list the top ten towns for debt as:

1. Harrogate
2. Halifax
3. Guildford
4. Worcester
5. Inverness
6. Tweed (Galashiels)
7. Shrewsbury
8. Chelmsford
9. Medway (Rochester)
10. Torquay

Notes to editors:

To see the latest blog post by ClearDebt – part of the campaign to get  FUNTS treated fairly in this year’s election, please click here.

Access more detailed data on the ClearDebt UK  Debt Survey.

Further information:
Tel:    0161 968 6825 / 07912 407 532
Email:    andrew.smith@cleardebt.co.uk
Twitter    @Andrew_F_Smith
Website    www.cleardebt.co.uk
Twitter    @cleardebt / @IVA

Planning to vote at the May 6 UK general election? People in debt are – right now – much more powerful than they think.  11% of Britons are in debt difficulties – that’s enough people to change the result in almost every parliamentary seat!

The general election on May 6 is a great chance to change your future.

Take our quick poll here – it’s the first step in a campaign Debtby, the Debt Monster, is running now – and after the election – to get fairer treatment for people with debt problems.

The banks are still treating people in debt unfairly. They treat you like a FUNT – Financially Untouchable!

The election is your chance to make a difference.

In the days to come the Debt Monster will be showing politicians how important your vote is and how vital it is for them to fight for the rights of those struggling with debt. And we won’t stop once those candidates become MPs.

First, let´s tell the politicians how you plan to vote – so we can show them how important you are.

Take the poll here – it will take you less than 5 seconds!

Thanks for your help and watch out for future blog posts and updates on this campaign.

It seems the Titanic is not the only sinking ship which will go down in history.  As more and more MPs are discovered fudging their expenses, I ask, how bad can it get?  Well apparently, much worse!   What a difference 24 hours makes.

Jacqui Smith, David Chaytor, Patricia Hewitt, Beverly Hughes and now Hazel Blears have resigned.  Ian Gibson, Tom Watson and Carol Flint…are expected to go soon.  Alastair Darling is…well..,still here…just.  As the house of cards come tumbling down, it seems the golden rule of Parliament is as they say in the X Files, “trust no one”.

An email by Former Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, urging Mr Brown to resign, has now been leaked to the media.  Claiming he has the backing of a further 70 MPs supporting this call (http://tinyurl.com/p6m5vj), you have to wonder is the curtain finally falling down on this show, and if so, who will the new cast be?

Well, based on the media reports so far, Mr Brown isn’t planning on giving up just yet and opinion elsewhere on this subject is very much split.  Yesterday’s editorial in the Guardian commented that as everyone is jumping ship, the Labour Party should “cut him loose”. They went on to say Gordon Brown has: “no vision, no plan, no argument for the future and no support. Labour has a year left before an election; its current leader would waste it. It is time to cut him loose.”

Despite being backed by Leader of the Commons, Harriet Harman, and Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward who described Gordon Brown as the “man wants to get Britain through these difficult times.”  Liberal Democrat, Nick Clegg believes Brown has no control, and that the government has become exhausted, claiming the general consensus does appear to be that Brown should go.  The question then is, is this a case of a quick re-shuffle and change of leader, or is it a whole bag of crock and should the Captain go down with the ship?

And if Labour does go out, who will go in?  As much as I disagree with how they’ve run things in the recession and key blunders they’ve continued to make, statistics of what will come after the storm, may be just as worrying.

A ComsRes report highlighted in this week’s Independent a dramatic drop in support for the Conservatives as the public have turned their backs on all three main parties.  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-pays-the-price-of-expenses-scandal-1694507.html

If a General Election was held now, Labour would win 22 per cent of the votes and the Liberal Democrats 18 per cent, the poll found. That would leave Mr Cameron 46 seats short of an overall majority. Despite initially coming off well in the expenses scandal, later revelations of Tory spending has now also taken their toll on the trust and popularity they had previously gained.  The new poll also puts the Greens on 8 per cent, Ukip on 7 per cent, the BNP 3 per cent, the Scottish National Party 2 per cent, Plaid Cymru 1 per cent and other smaller parties or independents 9 per cent.

With so much disappointment, frustration and anger towards the behavior of MPs and their mis-used management of our money,