Average debt hits £42,000

Credit cards, mortgages, loans and other forms of credit mean that Britons are more in debt than ever before, with most of this down to home ownership.

“Our findings are still very alarming in that they show that a significant number of people are taking on a lot more debt,” said Chris Holmes, chief executive of One Advice which carried out the research, according to Sky News.

He said that the findings came as total personal debt levels passed £1.2 trillion and despite many people cutting their debt.

However, mortgages account for an average debt of £39,129, while credit cards also make up a significant amount as do personal loans and overdrafts.

Many people even owe money to family and friends yet only a fifth of respondents to the survey said they were concerned about their debt despite its large level.

This means that they may fail to act to halt debt levels growing, affecting their future prospects for financial contentment.

Debt resolution company ClearDebt said that the 17,000 people who had left information on its website had average credit card and unsecured loan debts of nearly £27,700, roughly £10,000 more than their annual take-home pay.

Andrew Smith, ClearDebt marketing director, said: “Whilst the figures for the population as a whole look daunting these figures mask the real problem, which is that there are probably more and more individuals whose debt has become unmanageable but who either do not yet realise this or who are making the tragic error of waiting to see if things get better: they usually don’t.”