UK Debt Statistics from Credit Action

June 2013

UK Personal Debt

  • Outstanding personal debt stood at £1.424 trillion at the end of April 2013.
  • This is up from £1.410 trillion at the end of April 2012. At the end of April 2013, individuals owed nearly as much as the entire country produced during the whole of 2012.
  • Outstanding secured (mortgage) lending stood at £1.266 trillion at the end of April 2013. This is up from £1.252 trillion at the end of April 2012.
  • Outstanding unsecured (consumer credit) lending stood at £157 billion at the end of April 2013. This is down from £158 billion at the end of April 2012.
  • Average household debt in the UK (excluding mortgages) was £5,971 in April. This is down from a revised £5,972 in March.
  • Average household debt in the UK (including mortgages) was £54,015 in April. This is up from a revised £53,991 in March.
  • The average amount owed per UK adult (including mortgages) was £28,980 in April. This is up from a revised £28,967 in March, and was around 120% of average earnings.
  • Average consumer borrowing (including credit cards, motor and retail finance deals, overdrafts and unsecured loans) per UK adult was £3,204 in April. This is unchanged from a revised £3,204 in March.
  • The estimated average outstanding mortgage for the 11.3m households that carry mortgage debt stood at £112,459 in April.
  • Based on April 2013 trends, the UK's total interest repayments on personal debt over a 12 month period would have been £60.1 billion. This is equivalent to £165 million per day. This means that UK households would have paid an average of £2,279 in annual interest repayments.
  • The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted in March 2013 that total household debt will reach £1.931 trillion in Q1 2018. This would mean that average household debt would reach £73,284 (assuming that the number of households in the UK remained the same between now and Q1 2018).
  • Net lending to individuals by UK Banks and Building Societies rose by £1.4 billion in total in April 2013. Net secured lending rose by £0.9 billion in the month. Net consumer credit lending rose by £0.5 billion.
  • UK Banks and Building Societies wrote-off £4.1 billion of loans to individuals over the 4 quarters to Q1 2013. In Q1 2013 itself they wrote-off £932 million (of which £385 million was credit card debt) amounting to a daily write-off of £10.21m.

Every Day in the UK

  • 274 people are declared insolvent or bankrupt every day (based on Q1 2013 trends). This is equivalent to one person every 5 minutes 15 seconds.
  • 1,373 Consumer County Court Judgements (CCJs) are issued every day (based on Q1 2013 trends). The average value of a Consumer CCJ in Q1 2013 was £2,442.
  • Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales dealt with 8,192 new debt problems every working day during the year ending December 2012.
  • It costs an average of £29.02 per day to raise a child from birth to the age of 21.
  • 88 properties are repossessed every day (based on Q1 2013 trends).
  • 58 new people a day became unemployed for over 12 months during the year ending March 2013.
  • 1,534 people a day reported they had become redundant between January and March 2013.
  • Public Sector Net Borrowing (excluding financial interventions) was £6.3bn in April 2013, meaning that the Government borrowed an average of £210m per day during the month (equivalent to £2,431 per second).
  • 158 mortgage possession claims are issued and 112 mortgage possession orders are made every day.
  • 466 landlord possession claims are issued and 312 landlord possession orders are made every day.
  • The UK population is growing by an estimated 1,342 people a day.
  • 27.5m plastic card purchase transactions were made every day in March 2013 with a total value of £1.355 billion.
  • 8.7m cash machine transactions were made every day in April 2013 with a total value of £341m.
  • The average new car costs £18.33 per day to run.
  • It cost £66.70 to fill a 50 litre tank with unleaded petrol in May.


Debt Stats Press Release

£54,015

was the average household debt (including mortgages) in April

£165m

was the daily amount of interest paid on personal debt in April

8,192

new debt problems were dealt with by the CAB each working day over the year to December

1,534 people

people were made redundant every day between January and March

902,000 people

people had been unemployed for over a year between January and March

£10.21m

of loans are written-off daily by UK Banks and Building Societies

every 16 min 26 sec

a property is repossessed

every 5 min 15 sec

someone will be declared insolvent or bankrupt

£1.355 billion

was the daily value of all purchases made using plastic cards in March

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Compiled monthly by John Davies (johndavies@creditaction.org.uk).

Extracts of these debt statistics and figures may be reproduced subject to the following conditions:

  • No commercial or financial gain is made from the reproduction.
  • Acknowledgement of Credit Action as the provider of the information is mentioned in the reproduction.

Where the above criteria cannot be realised, application should be made to Credit Action.