In January the average household debt including mortgages was a staggering £55,988, and personal debt levels have increased since 2011.
According to the latest monthly figures from debt charity, Credit Action, outstanding personal debt stood at £1.456 trillion at the end of January 2012. This is up from £1.452 trillion for the same period in 2011.
Shockingly, individuals owed nearly as much as the entire economic output for the UK over 2011.
It may then come as no surprise that the average household debt including and excluding mortgages has increased.
In December last year, the average household debt (not including mortgages) was £7,951 and increased to £7,975 in January. Household debt including mortgages jumped from £55,843 to £55,988 in the same period.
The cost of living is soaring and as unemployment continues to rise those without work are finding it increasingly difficult to manage their finances. Around 1,707 people a day reported that they had been made redundant between October and December 2011.
It’s not just the unemployed who may be struggling to make ends meet, as millions of cash-strapped Brits are having to cutback.
The figures show that 318 people are declared insolvent or bankrupt everyday. This is equivalent to 1 person every 62 seconds during each working day.
To make matters worse statistics show that 93 properties are repossessed every day. That’s a property repossessed every 15 minutes and 28 seconds. Almost 200 mortgage possession claims were issued daily in January and 149 mortgage possession orders were made everyday.
As the number of hard-up Brits increases, many are turning to personal loans, credit cards and high interest payday loans to make ends meet.
Figures from Sainsbury’s Finance suggest that a jaw-dropping £1.5 billion worth of personal loans could be taken out purely for the purpose of debt consolidation between the start of January and the end of March.
If you are finding it difficult to manage your finances a suitable debt management solution from Debt Free Direct could help.