Consumer debt in the UK has soared by almost 10% in the past year. Unsecured consumer credit topped £200bn in June, prompting the Bank of England to warn about the potential threat of growing debt to the economy.
Unsecured consumer credit is made up of personal loans, overdrafts, credit cards and car loans. According to figures from UK Finance, the industry trade body, the average consumer debt per person in the UK stood at £603, while the average household debt was £1,441 at the end of 2016.
The most indebted place per capita is Northampton at £749, followed by Salisbury at £739, while Lerwick and Bradford at £446 and £450 have some of the lowest debt levels per capita in the UK.
Explore debt in the UK
Methodology
The consumer debt figures are taken from UK Finance, a financial trade body, and include credit issued by major UK banks.
The data relates to £37bn in outstanding consumer credit issued by high street banks and credit unions. However the details of where debt is issued in the UK is not published, so the true figure of debt by postcode area is far higher.
The data covers 60% of personal loans issued by major banks and credit unions therefore credit issued by other banks and some non-bank lenders, such as pay-day lenders, are not included in the figures.
The location of the borrower is determined by the address given at the time of the loan being issued. All per capita figures are based on population by postcode area from the 2011 census.
