Insolvency

Almost 30,000 people will probably become insolvent in the first quarter of the year, according to Grant Thornton.

Today's insolvency picture could get much worse through the rest of this year into 2008, says Grant Thornton, the financial and professional services firm.

More than 10,000 people a month are expected to declare themselves insolvent this year as a culture of unsustainable debt grows among the "buy now, pay never" generation, says the Times .

A LONG-HELD LAW which placed banks above other claimants in insolvency cases has been overturned by the House of Lords but this could make getting a small business loan tougher, says the Daily Telegraph .

The bankruptcy courts do have the power to impose much lengthier periods of bankruptcy than is generally known under the new laws, if it can be proven the individual deliberately incurred debts which they knew they could not afford to pay.

The Tenet Group has just announced it has "reluctantly" called off its plans to buy the troubled Lifeboat Group.

Insolvency experts BDO Stoy Hayward has filed bankruptcy proceedings against three divisions of Lifeboat Financial Group, a year after Legal & General also filed a bankruptcy petition on another division of the intermediary firm.

A new strategy has been unveiled by government officials and consumer bodies to cope with the growing tide of indebtedness and financial exclusion.