Britain’s borrowing is worsening as new data shows there are now more than 8.3 million people in the UK with problem debts.
The debt charity StepChange said the percentage of its clients falling behind on payments went over 40% in the first half of 2017, while the average debt of the people it helps has also risen, from £14,251 in 2016 to £14,367 in the first half of the year.
Students who started studying in England in 2012 are expected to leave university with debts of almost £40,000, according to a House of Commons Library paper.
Consumer credit, which covers personal loans, credit cards and borrowing for cars, is rising at just under 10% a year, at a time when wages are falling at 0.4% a year taking inflation into account. Some 86% of cars are now bought on credit deals, which effectively leave borrowers leasing their vehicle.
With warnings from the Bank of England that interest rates could rise from their current record lows of 0.25% as early as November, there are concerns that heavily indebted consumers could start to run into difficulty on their loan payments.
Share your experiences
We’d like you to help us explore the subject of debt, from students who need to pay back loans to people who have big credit card bills.
How much debt are you in? What form of debt is it? How did you get there? Have you used a pay-day loan? Do certain companies make it easier to owe a lot? How have you paid off student debt? What are your concerns? Do credit card lenders target people struggling with huge debt?
You can share your experiences using our encrytped form below. And we’ll use a selection in our reporting.
