Famine Follows Feast

The old adage of "famine follows feast" still rings true, even in the 21st century.

The post Christmas hangover of overspending is about to be felt by 30,000 people, who are likely to declare themselves bankrupt in the first quarter of 2007.

That at least is the view of Grant Thornton, which predicted a third of such cases would be a result of excessive spending in the festive season.

Mike Gerrard, head of personal insolvency service, said:

"Last year, during the period straight after Christmas, when bills started to hit the doormat, we witnessed the highest ever number of people going into personal insolvency and this year things could be even worse.

Since last Christmas, several developments such as interest rate rises, sky-high utility bills and increasing unemployment have pushed more people into financial trouble."

The figure of 30,000 insolvencies for the first quarter of this year is almost 9% higher than the third quarter total of 2006, and 25% higher than the insolvencies recorded during the first quarter of 2006.

A spokeswoman for Citizens Advice said:

"We do see evidence of a Christmas debt hangover, and this month we expect to exceed the 140,000 debt problems that Citizens Advice bureaux dealt with in January 2006."

Happy New Year!