Debt Statistics

It is estimated that, in 2002, £32 billion of unsecured lending and £8.8 billion of secured personal lending were used for debt consolidation. This compares with an estimated £18.4 billion of unsecured lending and £2.4 billion of secured personal lending in 1999. The value of credit card balance transfers in the first ten months of 2003 was £13.6 billion, compared with £11.6 billion for the whole of 2002. However, not all of these transfers will be for debt consolidation but for those that are, approximately 15 per cent involve consolidation of more than one credit card balance. Nor do these figures include the total debt owed by the people who are having problems meeting payments on their rent, council tax or their utility bills.

Ten years ago a typical debt case would involve an average of around five different debts. In today's consumer society it is very common for the same typical debt to include different debts that number well into double figures. Fifty years after being launched we now have a choice of over 1,700 different brands of credit card with the average balance on these standing at £6,400 per person, the largest in europe.