New lending figures ‘reflect growing debt crisis’

The charity expects debt management advice to increase this year and said that BBA figures which show credit card borrowing to have contracted merely shows that people are borrowing in different ways.

However, David Dooks, BBA director of statistics, said the fact that credit card borrowing fell last year shows that the appetite for consumer credit has “clearly waned”.

Citizens Advice, which dealt with 1.4 million debt problems last year, said that problems with credit cards, store cards, unsecured personal loans, overdrafts and mail order debts were the main reasons people sought help.

However, housing debt, such as problems with mortgages, was up 20 per cent last year, with repossession or the threat of repossession a major problem.

According to the BBA, net mortgage lending rose by £66.8 billion last year, a 20 per cent increase on 2005.