Unsecured debt payments cost 1 in 12 over half their income

6 March 2009

Around 1 in 12 UK adults spend more than half of their income on servicing their unsecured debts, a YouGov survey has claimed.

Carried out in December 2008, the survey reports that a full 8% of adults spend more than half of their income just to keep up with payments to their unsecured debts (such as credit cards, store cards and overdrafts).

As recently as August 2008, the same could be said of 6% of adults – and 12 months before that, of only 2%.

For younger adults, the problem seems to have been getting worse much faster. Between August and December 2008, the percentage of people aged 25-34 spending more than half their income on unsecured debt repayments rose from 6% to 12%.

"Clearly," said a debt expert for Think Money, "it`s best not to get into this situation at all – it`s very dangerous when debt repayments take up a significant part of a household`s income, as any change to the monthly budget can make it very difficult to keep up with those payments as well as other essential spending.

"For people already in this situation, however, there may be a number of debt solutions that could help – such as debt management, for example, or debt consolidation. The important thing is for borrowers to seek debt advice as soon as it looks like their debts are starting to get out of control."

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Think Money offer a range of debt solutions, including debt management, debt consolidation loans and IVAs (Individual Voluntary Arrangements). If you are worried about your debt, contact one of our expert debt advisers today.

Tags: debt, income, debt over half income, unsecured debt, storecards, credit cards, overdraft, creditcards

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