Banks forced to write off record levels of debt
‘BANKS were forced to write off record amounts of bad debt last year, new figures from the Bank of England are expected to show this week.
Concerns about soaring levels of consumer debt are likely to rise, particularly over the willingness of banks to give large loans to poorer households.
Write-offs in the fourth quarter of 2004 are expected to reach a record level of more than £6 billion for the year as whole, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The last time bad debt write-offs reached this level was in 1993, when Britain was mired in a recession.
The figures from the Bank of England, headed by governor Mervyn King, are due to be published on Thursday.’
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