Just been reading some depressing figures on one of the news websites about the spiralling debt crisis in this country.
One in ten credit card holders is constantly borrowing more than they are paying back and are classified by the credit card companies as potential risks.
840,000 morgages are in arrears or have missed payments, 123 houses a day are being repossessed.
So when you customer says "not this time" or starts messing you about there may be a very good reason behind it. This problem is not restricted to the poor parts of town, many of the worst cases are in the posh leafy suburbs.
I wonder myself how many of those 840,000 mortgages that are in arrears are buy to let mortgages.
There is a saying "If you move one stone on a beach every other stone is affected" None of us remain above this situation even if we personally are not in debt. Those are our customers out there.
The signs are everywhere. Several of my customers have put their houses up for sale because they are "downsizing". One moved from a 3bed semi to a small bungalow about 4 miles away even though they weren't retiring or anything like that.
My friend John ( who I know has money problems) sold his house and bought a smaller house way out in the sticks before Christmas.
A customer last month, who loves her new cars and big holiday, suddenly decided that she doesn't want her windows cleaned anymore.
A lot of the car dealerships are offering amazing discounts and deals - always a good sign they are struggling.
I think its going to be quite tough this year