Should we be more German?
According to recent research by the Bank of England, many households are struggling now with rising debts and increased household bills.
“The typical household reported that the income it had available after meeting household bills had fallen over the past year, and that it had saved less than it had expected,” the survey said. “More households were finding their debts to be a burden than in similar surveys carried out since the mid-1990s.”
The survey was carried out in September this year, at the peak of the credit crunch, and was conducted amongst 2,500 households.
The German chancellor has criticised Gordon Brown’s answer to our problems. The Germans are much more cautious than Brits and save much more – they save around 13 per cent of their income, second only to Japan in the savings stakes and their mortgage tends to be their main debt, with credit cards mistrusted. In fact, some German stores refuse to accept credit cards, preferring instead to be paid straight away as they are wary of credit fraud.
Should we have been a little more German?
Posted on December 16, 2008
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