Bankruptcy ‘not taken seriously’

Bankruptcy is regarded as an easy option for many people who fail to fully consider the impact of such a decision, it has been suggested.

“They don’t want to listen to the implications, they just want to go ahead and do it,” Martin Lord, manager of the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in Northampton, told the Northampton Chronicle.

His announcement follows the revelation that bankruptcy rates have shot up by 20 per cent in Northampton in the first quarter of 2008, as the credit crunch has taken hold.

Mr Lord told the paper that the bankruptcy figures were unsurprising.

“People don’t want to think about it seriously and bankruptcy isn’t the bogeyman it used to be,” he commented.

However, the implications of bankruptcy include having bank accounts frozen and even the possibility of losing your home, warned Mr Lord.

Bankruptcy rates are currently on the rise across the UK. Residents in the north-east have been particularly affected, with rates increasing by up to 34 per cent in the first quarter of 2008.

These figures have grown by three times the UK national average in just three months, the Northern Echo reported.