Older Brits are ‘most secretive’ about debts

Older generations of British consumers are among those most likely to be secretive about the extent of their debt management issues, a recent study has found.

Research by YouGov on behalf of accountancy firm KPMG established that while people aged over 55 in the UK have a relatively low average debt burden of between £2,500 and £5,000 they are general less willing to discuss their finances than younger generations.

In fact, less than a fifth of Britons aged over 55 polled as part of the recent investigation said that they would be happy to discuss their arrears, compared to almost half of those aged between 18 and 24.

However, almost half of the UK’s population believe that the stigma attached to taking on personal loan, mortgage-related and credit card debt has reduced over the course of the past decade.

Last week, a study commissioned by Abbey found that most loans taken out secretively by UK consumers are used to reduce outstanding debts.