Recession ‘helping people reassess their financial behaviour’

The economic climate has caused people to reconsider the way they handle their finances, an industry expert has said.

According to Louise Bond, a personal finance adviser at uSwitch.com, people are increasingly making cutbacks to meet their outgoings due to the threat of debt and rising bills in the recession.

“It is encouraging that consumers are also taking their financial future into their own hands by committing to changing their financial behaviours for the better,” she stated, adding that people were displaying a “British Bulldog spirit” in looking more to the positives.

A new report from uSwitch.com has found that 13 per cent of consumers are sure that the economic climate will improve substantially by the end of 2009. Over 21 per cent also feel that the housing market will recover at year end.

Figures from the recent Lombard Street Research/Daily Telegraph housing affordability index indicated that, for the first three months of the year, house prices were at their most affordable level since 1996.

By Sarah Adie