The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has highlighted the need for personalised debt management advice, especially for women.

In a Thinkpiece by Carole Nicholls, past president of the Personal Finance Society, it is suggested that financial plans should be designed around the WeightWatchers healthy living programme.

Ms Nicholls calls on the industry to move away from the traditional product-driven offering to one based on outcomes.

"The new model I am suggesting offers the individual a personalised financial plan to work to which should focus on the outcome as well as the investment – making the connection between the product and the result in real-life terms," she states.

Ms Nicholls highlights the fact that women often find financial advisers poor at communicating in clear and simple language without being patronising.

This results in them feeling less confident about making financial decisions, the CII’s research shows.

"The industry is missing a trick if it focuses on the product rather than the whole experience for the consumer," adds Ana Catalano, manager of policy and research at the CII.

Earlier this year, the CII called for financial products to better cater to the needs of older people.

People are being urged not to feel ashamed of their money worries and admit their debt problems to friends and family.

If more consumers talked openly about debt management issues then they would realise they are not on their own, explains Jessica Bown, independent consumer journalist at talkaboutdebt.co.uk.

"One of the main problems with debt is that people feel very isolated and by failing to talk to anyone about their problems they make the situation worse and end up getting into deeper and deeper debt," she warned.

Ms Bown urges anyone with debt management issues to speak to a professional, who can help them plan a way out of debt and cope better with their situation.

Figures from moneysupermarket.com show that more than half of the UK adult population carry an average non-mortgage debt of £6,956.

And despite increasing awareness of global financial difficulties, more than a quarter of Brits have taken on more debt in the past year, with eight per cent saying they are "a lot" more in the red.

Consumers struggling to keep up with repayments on credit cards are being told to carefully consider their debt management plans to avoid getting in to serious trouble.

They need to confront the situation and rectify it as soon as possible, explains Tom Howard, spokesperson for Consumer Credit Counselling Service.

"Your first step should be to make a strict and truthful budget that will set out your finances and help you see where you are overspending, can cut back, and such like," he commented.

Failing to meet even minimum payments, borrowing cash on a credit card and using one card to pay off another are signs that Brits could be getting themselves into serious financial difficulties, Mr Howard continued.

He advises anyone with debt management issues to speak to their lenders and get financial advice from an expert.

Latest figures from the Citizens Advice Bureau show that enquiries relating to debt increased by 13 per cent in the year to the end of June 2009, compared to the previous 12 months.

Enquiries relating to bankruptcy were up by nearly a quarter to 137,406 in 2008-09.

The new Consumer Credit Directive has been welcomed by one organisation, which stated that professionals should already be implementing its standards.

A spokesman for the Personal Finance Society said clients need to make sure they understand any sort of financial contract they enter into.

"It might help weed out some of the cowboys. Really I think the message to the general public is always to use a properly qualified professional," he suggested.

Credit checks need to be carried out properly, the spokesperson revealed, which again should already be common practice for bona fide professionals.

Raising consumer understanding of financial products is paramount, he added.

The Department for Business published on July 24th proposals for draft regulations to take forward the implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive.

Lenders will be required to check consumers’ creditworthiness before they borrow and fully explain financial products, while giving transparent, standardised information.

Consumers will also be entitled to a 14-day period within which to withdraw from credit agreements, to enable them to determine whether the conditions meet their requirements.

The mortgage market at the moment is seeing an increasing number of people falling short of the completion stage, it has been suggested.

Despite being initially approved, Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, claimed some are falling at the final hurdle.

"One of the key reasons for that is because of the difficulty in getting mortgages, where people are buying property and there is a chain involved – which clearly there is in a lot cases," Mr Bougler revealed.

People may not get the access to the finance they need, he added, which is where the "whole chain falls apart".

He cited this as one of the biggest problems facing the market at the moment, yet he still expects activity to pick up later in the year.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders reported on July 20th that gross mortgage lending totalled an estimated £12.3 billion in June.

This marked a 17 per cent increase from the £10.5 billion of lending seen in the previous month, although it is 48 per cent lower than levels seen in June 2008.

There are reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the level of savings in the UK, figures have shown.

The latest Nationwide Savings Index increased by eight points last month, now putting it at 80 – its second highest level in 2009.

More people are putting money away either regularly or occasionally compared to May, the research showed, while fewer people are saving nothing at all.

Andy Hutchinson, head of savings at Nationwide, said: "These positives may suggest that the wider UK economy, or at least the savings environment, is stabilising."

He added that it is too soon to establish whether attitudes towards saving have seen a marked improvement, suggesting that "caution should be exercised".

Further statistics from the index revealed that people are still cautious about saving for the future as the Importance of Savings Index fell by three points, while people also expressed uncertainty over whether now is a good time to save.

National Savings and Investments also announced last week that it had made £7.5 billion sales via nsandi.com and NS&I’s contact centres – up more than £2 billion against the previous year.

It has always been difficult for first-time buyers to get on the property ladder and it seems the situation is not set to improve, it has been revealed.

Property specialist Malcolm Harrison said the housing boom made it difficult for people to afford properties, whereas they now find it hard to access the finance.

"It’s always difficult getting on the property ladder and it has been ever since the war – everybody’s first purchase is a pretty major step forward," he suggested.

People are finding it no more or less difficult to get on the property ladder than older generations did, Mr Harrison revealed.

The latest Nationwide property price index showed the average house price increased by 0.9 per cent in June compared to a rise of 1.2 per cent in May.

It marks the third house price increase in four months, the index found, with the average UK property now costing £156,442.

Prices have fallen by 9.3 per cent over the last 12 months and 0.9 per cent on the previous month.

The rate of economic recovery is likely to be weak over the next few years, it has been suggested.

Charles Davis, economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), said business and consumers alike have high expectations for the level of growth.

"There probably needs to be an expectation adjustment and if people were expecting living standards to improve at the same rate, they are likely to be disappointed," said Mr Davis.

National debt management problems are continuing due to the high amount of borrowing by the government, Mr Davis added.

According to figures published by the Office for National Statistics, the public sector showed a deficit on the current budget of £9.9 billion in June, compared with a deficit of £5.8 billion in the same month last year.

Furthermore, a review by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research found consumer spending will fall by 3.5 per cent in 2009 and by 1.1 per cent next year.

Unemployment will peak at almost three million or 9.3 per cent of the labour force in spring 2011, it predicted.

Holding on to large numbers of credit cards could have a negative impact on people’s credit scores, it has been revealed.

New findings from uSwitch show 16.3 million consumers have an average of 2.3 credit cards each, with many of them held on to as a financial safety net.

"In recent years, we have seen providers close down these accounts or, in some cases, introduce a fee for consumers that don’t use their credit cards," commented personal finance expert at the website Louise Bond.

The site revealed that as a nation, the UK is notoriously bad for keeping an eye on its credit reports, which could also give rise to fraudulent activity.

Cards can be intercepted in the post and therefore used by fraudsters, uSwitch warned, which gives extra incentive for not having more cards than is needed.

The latest statistics from Apacs – the UK Payments Association show that 1.9 billion purchases were made on plastic cards during the first quarter of the year, marking a four per cent increase on figures from the previous year.

Many people opting for equity release mortgages may be getting inadequate advice when it comes to things like debt management and compound interest, a study suggests.

Figures from the consumer group Which? show that a number of equity release advisers are failing to flag up potentially vital issues.

Researchers from Which? recently posed as customers to assess the standards of 40 different financial advisers.

The organisation found that only a third of those included in the study met all the benchmarks expected of them, with some failing to explain to consumers how quickly debts can grow over the course of an equity release scheme.

Martyn Hockling, editor of Which? magazine, suggested that people should be careful when opting for equity release plans.

He said: "If you’ve been hit by plunging pensions, it might be tempting to release some much-needed money using your home.

"However, opting for an equity release plan is a big decision and it’s not one that should be taken lightly."

Which? now hopes to see a tightening up of the advice process to ensure people are kept abreast of all things that could affect their debt management.

Figures from Unbiased.co.uk recently revealed that many financial advisers are looking to improve their qualifications in areas such as equity release.