June 2011 Update
Total UK personal debt at the end of April 2011 stood at £1,452bn. Of this sum £1,240bn was secured on property making the mortgage market the backbone of or personal credit.
- The growth in debt over the last year remained unchanged at 0.8%.
- Individual debt nearly totals as much as the entire country produced during last year.
- This amounts to an average of over £50,000 debt per household.
- The number of borrowers in mortgage arrears is likely to reach 180,000 in 2011.
- Repossessions are set to grow to 1000 per month from the current 900.
- There is significant growth in the number of those wanting to reschedule debts.
Forbearance and Mortgage arrears for more information on debt.
Read about the UK National Debt .
From 2009 archives.
According to accountants Grant Thornton, the total amount of outstanding debt amassed through mortgages, loans and credit cards rose by 7.3 per cent to £1.440 bn over the year to June 2008, up from £1.35 trillion the previous year. UK GDP is estimated to be £1.41 trillion, having increased by just 5.1 per cent in nominal terms over the past year.(source: independent) This means UK personal debt exceeds total GDP. With GDP falling by an estimated 4% in 2009, this ratio of debt to GDP is only likely to get worse
Furthermore the fall in house prices have increased the ratio of debt that is not secured against the value of housing.
Interesting figures and projections -We were told that the general public were in fact reducing their debt, obviously not quickly enough.