評論
打印
Insolvency
資不抵債
Going under
愈發艱難
A lot of people are still going bankrupt
仍有很多人瀕臨破產
GOVERNMENT ministers took a break from wooing the Scots on September 17th to crow over Britain’s strengthening job market. Unemployment now stands at just 6.2%—down from a peak of 8.4% in late 2011, and not much higher than the 5% rates that were normal before the financial crisis. Another economic indicator, however, doesn’t look so good.
英國政府大臣們剛從9.17日懇求蘇格蘭留在英國的窘境中走出來，就開始吹噓英國就業市場日益強健。當前，失業率僅6.2%—低于2011年后半年事業高峰期的8.4%，而且與金融危機前的正常失業率5%相比，也并不高。但另一個經濟指標看起來卻沒這么好。
In 2000 the insolvency rate in Britain was just 7.4 per 100,000 adults. That shot up to 32.4 in 2010 before falling for the past four years. But it ticked up again in the second quarter of 2014, to 22.8 per 100,000. “The dip has really bottomed out,” says R3, the insolvency trade body.
2000年，英國10萬成年人中僅有7.4人破產。2010年，每10萬英國人中就有32.4人破產。近四年來，每10萬人中，破產人數又有回落。然而，2014年第二季度該數據又自動上升至每10萬人中22.8人破產?！斑@次探底已經降至最低”，破產貿易機構R3稱。
One reason for the rise in insolvencies after 2000 was that it became easier to file for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, which allows debtors to pay money back over a period of time. Then, in 2009, the government created the Debt Relief Order—sometimes called “bankruptcy lite”—for people with a maximum debt of 15,000. Other possible explanations for the rise over the years include a spendthrift attitude among the growing number of people unable to get on the housing ladder and the growth of student loans, which have normalised the idea of debt, suggests Andrew Tate of R3.
2000年之后破產率上升，其原因之一在于，申請債務重組變得更容易了。債務重組允許債務人在一段時間內將債務歸還。之后，2009年，英國政府為債務上限為1.5萬英鎊的人建立了債務減輕命令（DRO）—有時也稱“快捷破產”。近幾年破產率上升，可能還有另一些原因，其中包括：買不起首套房的人越來越多，他們花錢揮霍無度；還有學生債務的增長， R3的安德魯·塔特稱學生債務使債務的意義變得正?；?。
Young women are more likely to go bust than are young men. Louise Brittain of Wilkins Kennedy, an accountancy firm, says many more women are taking risks as entrepreneurs these days, so more are ending up in trouble. But only a quarter of all personal bankruptcies in the first quarter of this year were of self-employed people. The biggest problem for both men and women is credit-card bingeing, she says.
年輕女性比年輕男士破產的可能性更大。威爾金斯·肯尼迪會計公司的路易斯·布里頓稱，如今越來越多的女性冒著風險想成為企業家，因此陷入破產的女性就更多。但是，今年第一季度的個人破產中，自由職業者占了四分之一。路易斯·布里頓稱，無論對于男性還是女性，最大的問題就是用信用卡揮霍無度。
Mr Tate worries most about the growth of debt management plans. These often involve cold-calling people in debt and offering to negotiate with creditors for a fee. A recent R3 survey found that 4% of British adults—about 2m people—are in some kind of DMP. Since only about 250,000 are formally insolvent, the problem might be bigger than it appears. Some debtors cannot afford the 705 fee to apply for bankruptcy. Others have debts too high to apply for a DRO. R3 suggests raising the debt maximum for DROs to 30,000 and letting the fee be paid in instalments.
塔特先生最擔心的是債務管理計劃的增長。通常，這牽扯到因負債而倍受打擊的人們與債權人協商收取費用。R3最近的一次調查發現4%的英國成年人—約200萬人—正處于某種債務管理計劃中。由于只有2.5萬人正式破產，這個問題可能會比表面上看起來更加嚴重。一些找無人無力承擔705英鎊的破產申請費。其他人債臺高筑，無力申請債務減輕命令。R3建議將債務上限提高到3萬英鎊，并且對破產申請費實行分期付款。
Such moves may help, but a bigger problem looms. If interest rates were to rise to the sort of levels normal before the financial crisis, many homeowners could not absorb them, says Ms Brittain.
這些方法可能有幫助，但是有一個更大的隱患。如果利息稅飆升至金融危機前的正常水平，很多私房屋主就不能接受了，布里頓稱。
