FOR people like Elizabeth Yates the credit crunch has been more than just a numbers game.
Like 59 other individuals in Derbyshire she was forced to file for bankruptcy in November.
And she says that, despite fearing for her future credit rating, the soaring prices of gas, petrol and food had left her with no choice.
At one stage in the autumn, Miss Yates, on maternity leave from working as a pharmacy technician, said she was struggling to buy food for herself.
She gave birth to her son Owen in April.
%3Cbody%3E%3Cdiv%20id%3D%22adDiv%22%3E%3CA%20HREF%3D%22http%3A//ads.anm.co.uk/ADCLICK/CID%3D0000b139bb3f965200000000/AAMSZ%3D452x118/SITE%3DTHISISDERB/AREA%3DNEWS/SUBAREA%3DHOME/ARTICLE%3D546883/acc_random%3D2591203521/pageid%3D/RS%3D%22%20target%3D%22_new%22%3E%3CIMG%20SRC%3D%22http%3A//iad.anm.co.uk/house/1x1.gif%22%20ALT%3D%22Click%20here%21%22%20border%3D0%20style%3D%22margin-bottom%3A%200px%3B%22%3E%3C/A%3E%3C/div%3EThe 25-year-old said: "At one point it had become hard to afford food day-to-day.
"It was partly because of the debt and partly because of rising prices.
Miss Yates, 25, lives with her partner Craig Bausfield, 31, of Brunswick Street, Normanton.
She said she was lucky because Mr Bausfield had provided her with somewhere to live when she could not afford anywhere herself and had no assets.
Up until November 28, this year, when Miss Yates' bankruptcy was confirmed, she said she made several financial choices she regretted.
Overuse of credit cards had left her thousands of pounds in the red.
She said: "I kept asking for credit cards and loans and the banks and building societies kept giving them to me. I was young and silly.
"I thought I had found a solution with a debt management company which spaced out my loans so I could make the payments over a longer period.
"But the company I chose weren't very good. They charged me £35 a month and to do their work but they didn't sort out new contracts with the companies I owed money to for about a year.
"The companies weren't much help either. All they wanted was their money."
Miss Yates said the final straw came in the form of a gas bill which asked for more than twice the quarterly amount she had usually paid.
She said: "It was for £300 and the most I'd paid before was £120. At that stage my debt was around £13,000.
"I rang the National Debt Helpline and they advised me against filing bankruptcy because I was so young but they weren't suggesting anything I hadn't already tried."
The helpline operator said Miss Yates should ask for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, or IVA.
This is a formal agreement between a debtor and their creditors to make reduced payments on outstanding debt over, typically, a five-year period.
But Miss Yates decided this would not deal with her immediate cash-flow problems and decided to pay the Insolvency Service the £500 needed to become bankrupt.
Figures show there has been a doubling of bankrupty cases in Derbyshire in the past three months.
The figures have been collated from bankruptcy notices issued by Derby and Chesterfield county courts, published in the Evening Telegraph from September 1 to November 30.
In total, 135 people filed for bankruptcy, as did 50 businesses, during that period.
And the situation is set to worsen next year, according to a survey of insolvency practitioners in Derbyshire.
R3 Midlands, the regional trade body for insolvency practitioners, carried out a survey of its 300 members, including those in Derbyshire, asking for their predictions.
It was the first time R3 Midlands (R3 stands for rescue, recovery and renewal) had carried out such a survey.
The results present grim reading, with members predicting that the rate of corporate bankruptcy will rise by 41%.
It also predicts that personal insolvency will grow by 22%.
This means that in November next year, 31 businesses in Derbyshire and 73 individuals could be filing for bankruptcy.
According to insolvency expert James Martin, chairman of R3 Midlands, it is a worrying situation.
Mr Martin, who lives in Repton, has more than 20 years experience working in corporate recovery.
Until recently he worked at Derby-based Cooper Parry but is now a partner at Birmingham-based Begbies Traynor.
Mr Martin said: "The increase in business insolvencies could be catastrophic for Derbyshire and, unfortunately, could mean we will start to approach the numbers we saw at the peak of the last recession in 1992.
"In comparison to that recession, this downturn is more sudden.
"This time you not only have economic confidence hit by the house price bubble bursting, but also liquidity problems at the banks.
"Liquidity, or cash available to lend, is what oils the economic machinery.
"For the last three or four years a number of businesses that perhaps were not performing well have been kept alive artificially by the easy availability of credit, which has now dried up."
According to Mr Martin, from his own day-to-day dealings, the two sectors that are particularly suffering are construction and haulage.
He said: "These sectors have been particularly affected by the credit crunch.
"We do need to keep a sense of proportion, however, because even with such a sharp increase in failures, the vast majority of businesses will come through this painful period.
"Those companies that have borrowed sensibly within their means will survive.
"I believe the small to medium sized businesses who have consistently remained in the black should still be here when things improve and be in a good position to grow."
On the issue of personal insolvency, Mr Martin said: "The availability of credit has tempted people to borrow money, but they have no idea how they are going to pay it back.
"It is very difficult to apportion blame. Is it their fault for borrowing it, or the banks for lending it to them in the first place?
"Traditionally the route into personal insolvency is not an overnight process and, unsurprisingly, people will put off dealing with financial problems until they have exhausted all other options.
"Because of their inability to pay back the money, some choose bankruptcy as a way of clearing their debts.
"This sounds drastic, but I believe that there isn't the stigma attached to bankruptcy that there once was. We've moved on from the days of the debtors' prison.
"That said, it does give you a black mark on your credit rating and makes it more difficult to borrow money in the future.
"Insolvency is more difficult for individuals to handle.
"Businesses unable to pay their debts can make changes that can improve profitability.
"For individuals, there's only a certain amount of hours they can work in one day in order to generate more money to pay their debts."
With Christmas shopping now in full swing, we have entered a phase when some people will be looking to spend more.
But according, to Mr Martin, this year we will be more conscious of what goes on our plastic.
He said: "We did some research recently which found that more people in the East Midlands would be watching what they spend.
"It's reassuring to me that some people will be using more common sense.
"But it's a tricky situation. The Government is encouraging us to spend by reducing VAT, yet none of us want to buy things that we cannot afford.
"But we cannot sit at home and buy nothing otherwise everything will grind to a halt. It is a question of being sensible."
According to Mr Martin, the most crucial thing that any business or individual can do if they see financial problems on the horizon is to seek help early.
He said: "It can be a very lonely existence facing these issues alone.
"The key is that the financial problems are identified as early as possible. It is like a medical condition - the earlier it is spotted the easier it is to treat. We're surgeons, not morticians.
"But I also don't want people to think that from this survey we are simply scaremongering.
"This is very much a reality check. There is no point denying the fact that tough challenges lie ahead.
"The credit freeze is going to take some time to thaw.
"While the business climate remains tough, it is advisable for businesses


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