UK’s personal debt ‘up £113bn in a year’

The scale of the UK’s personal debt management burden has increased by close to £113 billion over the course of the past year, according to the latest figures.

Data collected by the Credit Action charity has revealed that individuals around the country owe a collective total of almost £1,430 billion and an additional £8.2 billion was borrowed over the course of March 2008.

There are now thought to be almost 11.8 million Britons with outstanding mortgage arrears, with the average outstanding sum topping £100,000.

Furthermore, the average British household pays out around £3,765 each year to service the interest on their debts, which is £340 more than was the case 12 months ago and 292 people are entering insolvency or bankruptcy each day.

Meanwhile the Centre for Economics and Business Research recently predicted that debt management problems will see 33,000 people lose their homes in the UK this year.