Debts with friends ‘can cause friction’

As millions of consumers deal with debt management difficulties across the UK, new research from Abbey has shown that lending money from friends can often lead to further problems.

The recent study found that around 3.5 million Britons have argued or fallen out with their friends over unpaid debts and in many cases the amounts involved were £100 or less.

Abbey also found that in just over a quarter of cases in which someone had lent money to their friend, the reason was to help that person deal with their existing debt management troubles.

Paul Morrish, head of Abbey loans, said: “As millions of Brits find that borrowing from or lending money to a friend resulted in the loss of a friendship we’ve seen that people can fall out over the smallest amounts of money.”

The total amount of personal debt held by consumers in the UK now stands at over £1,345 billion, according to figures from Credit Action.