A sad experience and prediction!
A few weeks ago we got a letter from our oil supplier stating that they want all customers to pay their out standing balances within 4 months and that all monthly direct debits would be going up to £100. For us that meant that we had to find £600 pronto and experience a 66% rise in our direct debit without having budgeted for it.

(Ironically if you think about it for a moment it’s easy to see how a local oil company could easily go bust as a result of an acute cash flow problem. All of a sudden they could find that all their capital is wrapped up in customer’s unpaid debts and so have no funds to buy the oil needed to continue supplying customers.)

Having scrapped together the money needed to pay my bill I made my way down to the company to handover the cheque. As I stood in the reception area I overheard a sales executive explain to a customer that she couldn’t have anymore oil. She was £300 in debt, hadn’t paid her direct debit in 2 months and so could not receive any more oil. On asking what the minimum amount she would have to pay would be she was told that the full balance would need to be paid.

I don’t want to be a profit of doom folks but my advice would be to start living frugally now. Clear any outstanding debts and put away any savings you can. It would appear that there are many rainy days so to speak ahead of us.