document.write("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-16'?><link rel='stylesheet' href='http://www.thefinancials.com/news/clients/erate/news.css' xmlns:wxsl='http://www.w3schools.com/w3style.xsl' /><link rel='stylesheet' href='http://www.thefinancials.com/news/styles/tfc.css' xmlns:wxsl='http://www.w3schools.com/w3style.xsl' /><table border='0' width='100%' cellpadding='4' cellspacing='0' style='border-collapse: collapse' bordercolor='#111111' xmlns:wxsl='http://www.w3schools.com/w3style.xsl'><tr><td class='headline'>British homeowners reduce their debt<p class='copyright'>upi</p></td></tr><tr><td><span class='description'><div class='qmnews_headline'>British homeowners reduce their debt</div><div class='qmnews_story' id='story'><P>The Bank of England said British homeowners paid off a record amount on their home mortgage debts in 2008, lowering the debt by $11.5 billion.</P><P>In past years, as homes rose in value, home owners were busy borrowing against their rising equity, The Times of London reported Wednesday. </P><P>Borrowing peaked in the final quarter of 2007 with equity loans reaching $21 billion, The Times said.</P><P>But, while home values fell, British homeowners paid off debt and almost tripled their cash value of their savings from $5.9 billion in the third quarter of 2008 to $16.9 billion by the end of the year.</P><P>The new data 'reinforce the belief that we are in for an extended period of marked consumer retrenchment,' said Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight.</P></div></span></td></tr></table><span class='providedby' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>via theFinancials.com</span>")