Despite handing back £4.7m of the controversial £8.3m pension top up from his pension, Former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) leader, Fred Goodwin has still left many with serious debt problems.
Following a deal with RBS, the ex-chief executive has agreed to hand back more than £200,000 a year from his controversial pension, as his annual pension payout drops from £555,000 to just £342,500.
When he retired last year, Fred known as “the Shred” for his ruthless cost-cutting was handed a bumper pension pot paying £703,000 per year causing widespread outrage – especially for the thousands at RBS who lost their jobs as a result of his actions.
Goodwin then became the face of the banking crisis for RBS, before fleeing the UK after his home in Edinburgh was attacked. He has widely been held responsible for the disastrous ABN Amro acquisition which happened at the at the height of the credit crunch.
His poor debt management – in that he loaded the company with toxic assets – meant that the company had to offload staff, along with having to beg the treasury to bail them out of trouble.
Since his departure, RBS has announced 9,000 job cuts as it tries to recover from the biggest loss in UK corporate history last year – a whopping £24.1bn. These individuals face mounting debt problems with no income to repay their outstanding balances.
Debt advice organisations have reported an increase in the number of white-collar city workers enquiring about their debt help programmes and support as they try to cope with growing loans and credit card debt.
Many thousands more employees at the bank also still face an uncertain future, and could also benefit from seeking professional debt advice for ways to get out of debt.
Reputable debt help organisations, such as The Debt People, Chiltern and Hamilton Locke, offer a number of ways to tackle debt problems including Debt Management Plans (DMPs), Trust Deeds and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs).
These help by enabling multiple outstanding balances on credit facilities like personal loans, store cards and credit cards to be repaid with a single monthly payment.
This payment is calculated to be affordable, which makes finances simpler and easier to manage.
For immediate debt advice or for further information on Debt Management, IVAs and other debt solutions, please call the number at the top of this page.
