Gimme a Break! What a PR Dept, eh?

[Lefty]

Credit crunch strikes heart of single parent Britain

21 March 2008


Three in four Britons (75%) say they are preparing for financial hardships and serious cut backs as a result of the credit crunch – and single parent families are the family unit feeling most vulnerable (87%) – according to new research from BrightHouse Stores.

At a time when there have been widespread concerns over a series of cost of living hikes – including petrol, heating, food and transport - the new research reveals the extent to which the credit crunch has affected the UK population and the areas where Brits are planning to make cutbacks.

Community retailer BrightHouse, (WHAT???? Me thinks a big gold star for whoever came up with THAT new strap line!!! Jeez...) asked a GB representative sample of more than 2,000 people how they feared the credit crunch may impact their lifestyles and daily routines.

The two most widespread fears were having a smaller budget to live on each week (58%) and not being able to put any money aside for the future (43%). On both of these counts, single parents felt most on the edge. They have also overtaken retired people and students in terms of feeling the pinch.

At a time when food costs and risen and there has been widespread concern over the healthy eating habits of the nation, it was alarming to note from the research that more than one in four adults planned to spend less money on food. Single parents were almost twice as likely as other family groups (51% versus 27%) to brace themselves for cutbacks on the daily or weekly food spend.

Nearly three times as many single parent households than two-parent homes are worried about losing their home in the wake of the credit crunch (19% vs. 7%) and one in ten (10%) feared losing their job.


Hamish Paton, Business Development Director, BrightHouse commented: “In recent months there has been a great deal of concern voiced over the financial hardship of key workers, the retired and students. Our research suggests that it is single parents that are the group living on a financial tightrope in credit crunch Britain and more needs to be done to help this important and growing segment of the community.” (...and besides, they tend to always need fridges, cookers, suites and beds for the kids...)

“As a community retailer that invests in the communities in which we do business (...excuse me while I throw up!), we understand the pressures that single parent families face, the budgets they work with and the everyday choices they have to make. We acknowledge that everyone, even those on the tightest of budgets, wants to make their home better and our weekly payment plans allow people to live their dreams without getting drawn into a credit crunch of their own.”

For more information, visit brighthouse.info.


Full article HERE


You know, I honestly think some folk at BrightHouse are actually beginning to believe their own bull***t !!!! Community retailer, BrightHouse????? That's like saying "Caring Dictator, Adolf Hitler...







Cheers
Lefty

[tiglet]

Lmao

[morrigan54]

LMAO Lefty! A community retailer eh? LOL! You gotta laugh or you'll cry!

[Michael Browne]

As a community retailer that invests in the communities in which we do business (ie we spend money opening a store) we understand the pressures that single parent families face, (we sure do, and we'll expoit it to the full) the budgets they work with and the everyday choices they have to make. We acknowledge that everyone, even (especially) those on the tightest of budgets, wants to make their home better and our weekly payment plans allow people to live their dreams (our dreams, their nightmares) without getting drawn into a credit crunch of their own.”(not if we have anything to do with it)

[Lefty]

Community Retailer... !!!!

Try telling that to the single parent who's been hit with a double week and penalty charges for being a day late with her payments!

Try telling that to the struggling young family who've just been burgled - losing virtually everything they've got - only to be told by BrightHouse that their Damage Liabilty Cover won't pay out because they shouldn't have left their flat empty!!!

Try telling that to the young mum explaining to BrightHouse how her violent partner has left her, leaving her with only £70 a week to live on... Try telling her that as she has to hand over £45 of it, because she couldn't pay last week as she was in hospital with a fractured skull...

I could go on...

The frightening flip side of this (admittedly) quite laughable article, is just how media savvy and focused BrightHouse are with their market research.

Expect a new line of buggies, prams, pushchairs etc in a BrightHouse store window near you very soon...



Cheers
Lefty

[morrigan54]

Nice one Lefty! Spot on!
The penalty charges they impose on their 'single parent families' surely could buy them some groceries?
Can't you challenge the article Lefty and get something published? Or am I being controversial in saying that anything anybody submits to the media about this rip off company doesn't get published for some strange reason?
Why I say this is because I hardly see anything in print written by an actual customer who has indeed been ripped off courtesy of them!

[Lefty]

...and here's another "take" on the same BrightHouse press release... (although, this time the writer isn't quite so taken in with BrightHouse and its all new caring for the community attitude...)

One-parent families fear cuts forced by crunch

Single-parent families with stretched finances are braced to make further cutbacks on food and other essentials as the effects of the credit crunch spread to ordinary households.

As other reports in this issue of Cash will show, the credit crunch and resulting clampdown on borrowing are bad news for everyone. But it is particularly frightening for single parents already living on the edge, according to household retailers Brighthouse Stores.

Its research shows that 72 per cent of single parents are concerned about having less money for everyday essentials, compared with 58 per cent of UK people in general; while 51 per cent of single parents are worried that they will have to spend less on food, compared with 27 per cent of the population as a whole.

Jayne Bellis, senior counsellor for the debt charity Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) in its Chester office, says this is a common reaction among the cash-strapped. 'People tend to cut back on food because it is the easiest thing to do in the short term,' she says. 'When people approach us for help, they have already started shopping once every two weeks instead of every week as a panic measure. But it's not a good plan in the long term.'

Nor is failing to pay the rent or mortgage. The Brighthouse research found that 19 per cent of single parents were worrying about falling behind with payments, and rightly so according to Bellis. 'We're seeing more clients who have problems with their priority debts - mortgage, rent, council tax and utility payments. The cost of these have crept up, and benefits and salaries have not kept pace,' she says.

It is particularly hard for single parents to absorb such increases, as they only have one salary or one set of benefits to cover the cost.

Sophie Latham, a 21-year-old single parent who lives in south London with her two-year-old daughter Shaye, has certainly found that to be true. Sophie finds it hard to make the £120 in benefits they receive cover all their needs. 'Every other week I have to miss paying the £7 for my TV licence so I can buy something I need for the house or for Shaye, and then pay double the following week. I do fall behind on rent too, but at the moment it's only £15, so that's not too bad.' She has bought a bed, washing machine and TV through Brighthouse, which enables her to pay by instalments. She adds: 'I don't have any credit cards or loans, and I don't want any.'

(What they don't mention here is that Sophie's weekly BrightHouse bill is going to be at least £30 a week! That's 25% of her weekly income! And, if Sophie's misses BrightHouse - like she does the TV licence - it's going to cost her £68.10 the following week! More than 50% of her weekly income!)

However, many other single parents rely on juggling credit cards to keep their households going, and they will be hard hit by the withdrawal of 0 per cent balance transfer deals from the market. According to financial website Fool.com, the number of 0 per cent deals has halved over the last year.

Kate Bell, head of Policy at charity One Parent Families/Gingerbread, says: 'Single parents worry desperately about even tighter limits on their budgets and about shielding their children from the worst effects of poverty. Despite some progress towards meeting the government's 2010 target of halving child poverty, it is still the case that 49 per cent of lone parents and 50 per cent of children in one-parent families are poor. The [Brighthouse] findings debunk the myth that single parenthood is an easy choice and highlights the need for the government to quicken the pace of its anti-poverty campaign.'

Full story HERE


Cheers
Lefty

[steven4064]

Fortunately, it is not just CAG on BH's case - Debt on Our Doorstep - Brighthouse Campaign