¿Vives con deudas? Un experto en ahorro te explica cómo poner en orden tus finanzas

euronews (en español)

¿Vives con deudas? Un experto en ahorro te explica cómo poner en orden tus finanzas  "Nadie piensa que tener una tarjeta de crédito implica tener una deuda", advierte Kevin Mountford, cofundador de la plataforma de ahorro Raisin UK.  MÁS INFORMACIÓN : http://es.euronews.com/2025/04/21/vives-con-deudas-un-experto-en-ahorro-te-explica-como-poner-en-orden-tus-finanzas  ¡Suscríbete a nuestro canal! Euronews está disponible en 12 idiomas

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00:00Sprinkling of your finances is just as important as sprinkling in the house.

00:03The issue is when it spirals out control.

00:06Nobody thinks that a credit card is actually debt.

00:14Welcome to The Big Question,

00:16the series from Euronews addressing some of the biggest topics in the world of business.

00:20Today I am joined by Kevin Mountford,

00:22co-founder of saving platform Raising UK to discuss all things debt.

00:26Thank you so much for joining me today, Kevin.

00:27So I think a lot of people feel a lot of shame about discussing debt,

00:30but it's actually incredibly common.

00:32How many people in Europe are living in debt right now?

00:34If you look at Europe as a collective,

00:36there's around $7 trillion of debt or of borrowings.

00:41And I think that's a big difference

00:43because we're all used to borrowing money for different reasons.

00:46I think the issue is when it spirals out control.

00:49But if I break that down to an individual level,

00:52that's around $10,000 per person.

00:54If we look at the amount of borrowing to income,

00:58then that's where it can become a bit of a challenge.

01:00So across Europe it's about 97%,

01:03but you've got some countries like the Netherlands, Norway, 200% plus.

01:08Yes, the income is higher in some of these jurisdictions,

01:11but the borrowing, relatively speaking, is higher as well.

01:14So the issue is not borrowing in itself,

01:18but that borrowing going out of control

01:19and debt that we no longer can manage.

01:21Thinking about the most common reason that people are borrowing

01:32and getting into debt aside from mortgages,

01:34what is the kind of most common cause of debt?

01:36I think credit cards generally, you speak to your friends

01:39and nobody thinks that a credit card is actually debt.

01:43It's just the way we live our lives.

01:44We all look at our bank statements and realise with contactless

01:48how much we've spent that we haven't really thought about.

01:52And to boost the economy,

01:53as governments are now looking at increasing the thresholds on contactless.

01:58So in the UK it's generally £100,

02:00but if that starts to increase,

02:02I think we need to be far more disciplined

02:04in managing our household budget.

02:07I don't know about yourself,

02:08but through the years as my salary's gone up,

02:10I've not really been any better off.

02:12The more I earn, the more I spend.

02:14When that gets out to control,

02:15that's when you've got a real problem.

02:17And do you think there's a kind of financial literacy problem

02:19and a lack of education in schools

02:21that's kind of partly to blame?

02:22So we carried out some research at Raisin

02:25and it showed that there was a lack of understanding

02:28over things like what's inflation,

02:30what's standard variable rate on a mortgage,

02:32what's AER, APR, etc.

02:33The problem is if you've not got that awareness,

02:37you don't feel empowered and in control

02:39to make the best use of your finances

02:41so that plays into the hands of the banks

02:44and other financial institutions

02:46and we become very apathetic

02:49and we don't change products as readily as we should

02:52so that in itself creates a problem.

02:55Yeah, and do you think social media plays a role

02:57in contributing to debt in younger generations?

03:00Social media can be a cause for good

03:02in so much that you can find information

03:05but there's promotional adverts in front of you

03:08day in and day out

03:09and I think that the problem being

03:11it creates more immediacy on the back of your aspiration

03:14and don't forget the ease of which you can buy things online now.

03:19I've got friends that struggle to sleep

03:21so what do they do in the middle of the night?

03:22They go online and they start buying stuff.

03:24Oh gosh.

03:24So that's where the likes of social media

03:27and the kind of immediacy of new technology can create problems

03:32so we just have to be careful.

03:34What are the long-term ramifications of getting into debt at a young age?

03:37Worst extreme is you can face bankruptcy,

03:40get assets seized,

03:41but also your credit scores.

03:42When you're older in particular,

03:43you might want a mortgage or you might want a car loan, etc.

03:46That's going to go against you

03:48so the worse your credit score is

03:49then you fall into kind of subprime categorisation.

03:53The interest levels you get,

03:55people are prepared to give you money

03:56but you'll have to pay more for it

03:58so it becomes a downward spiral really.

04:00So for those already in debt,

04:02what are the key steps to take to get out of debt?

04:04Accept the fact that you're in debt.

04:06What you don't want to do is compound the problem

04:08by allowing the debt to get out of control.

04:11So talk to somebody,

04:12don't bury your head in the sand.

04:13If you've got a loan provider,

04:15it's your mortgage, unsecured loan,

04:17wherever it might be,

04:18talk to them.

04:18There might be ways of rescheduling your finance

04:21to ease the burden a little bit.

04:24There are ways you consolidate loans.

04:26So what happens is you pay the loan back

04:28over a longer period

04:29but your outgoings are reduced.

04:31So there's different ways of tackling this.

04:33There's certainly people out there

04:35that would try to take advantage of your situation.

04:38So if you need any debt-related advice,

04:41there are charities out there.

04:42There's a way of getting free advice

04:44as opposed to paying for it

04:45because you don't want to be paying for something

04:47when you're struggling with finance to start with.

04:49For people who maybe do manage to pay off debt,

04:51what do they need to do going forward

04:53to stay out of debt?

04:54I think it really is about budgeting.

04:57Sprinkling your finances

04:58is just as important as sprinkling in the house

05:00or whatever.

05:01I've just changed car insurance.

05:03I've saved £130.

05:05I've just changed broadband provider.

05:07I've saved £500 a year

05:09or whatever the case may be.

05:10It's money in my pocket

05:12as opposed to the bank

05:13or the insurance provider

05:15or whoever it may be.

05:16But I think quite an interesting thing

05:18is maybe as a family

05:18or as a group of friends,

05:20why don't every quarter or six months

05:22sit down over a bottle of cheap wine

05:25because you don't want to overspend?

05:26But why don't you just have a look

05:27at your outgoings?

05:28Have a bit of a competition

05:29trying to reduce it.

05:31What are the next steps

05:31to create a kind of

05:32positive financial situation going forward?

05:34I think awareness, education,

05:37real understanding the terminology,

05:39getting to a point

05:40where you feel empowered.

05:42So, you know,

05:42raising as a savings platform.

05:45Taking the UK as an example,

05:47there are hundreds of millions of pounds

05:49sitting in accounts

05:50paying 1% or less.

05:52From our platform,

05:53you could get three, four times that.

05:55That's money in your pocket

05:56and not in the bank's pocket.

05:58So just do something about it.

06:00You've got deposit guarantee schemes

06:01across Europe

06:02that's protecting your savings

06:04up to certain limits.

06:06So there might be a brand

06:07that you don't recognize

06:08and you stick with a high street bank

06:10because you think your money's safer.

06:12Well, in some respects,

06:13that might be the case.

06:14But with under the deposit guarantee scheme,

06:17whether it be 100,000 euros,

06:19whether it be 85,000 pounds,

06:21your money's protected.

06:22So go with the regulated entity

06:24that you might not know,

06:26but you'll get a better return on your savings.

06:27Looking across Europe in the future,

06:29what is the economic outlook

06:30and how is that going to affect us?

06:32I think it's a challenge

06:32and it's a challenge

06:33because if we look at it globally

06:35at macro level,

06:36we've still got conflicts around the globe.

06:38You've then got the ramifications

06:40of the Trump regime

06:42and that we possibly could have a trade war

06:44with tariffs

06:45and retaliation from countries that are affected.

06:48So from a central kind of banking perspective,

06:51one of the tools they've got is interest rates.

06:54So we saw that inflation was double digit,

06:56so they put up interest rates,

06:58means there's less money available,

07:00so we spend less because it's supply and demand.

07:02Inflation is coming under control,

07:04but there are potential issues

07:05because of this trade war situation.

07:07And I think the European Central Bank

07:09will, as we get into the summer,

07:11reduce rates.

07:12There is a view that it'll get down to 1.75%.

07:14It was over 3% back in the last year.

07:16So if you bring inflation down,

07:18that kind of cost of living crisis reduces,

07:21interest rates come down,

07:22then anybody who's got borrowing linked to interest rates

07:25will end up having lower payments.

07:27So all of these are positive steps.

07:29So for a lot of people

07:30that are facing debt challenges,

07:32that'll be a consequence

07:33of high interest rates and high inflation.

07:35As they ease,

07:36some of those debt levels will naturally reduce.

07:39So let's hope

07:40that when we get into the summer,

07:41then that eases the debt burden

07:43on households across Europe and beyond.

07:46Well, thank you so much for your insights today.

07:48And thank you very much

07:48for joining me on The Big Question.

07:49Thanks for having me.

07:52Thank you.

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