26 June 2007
Britons are now devoting more of their salaries than ever to loan repayments, it has been revealed.
The annual share of income given over to loan repayments, mortgages and credit cards has risen from 7.5% to 9% in the past decade according to figures collated by the Liberal Democrats.
Personal debt has also jumped from 105% to 164% in the same number of years.
Unsecured debt including personal loans accounts for 213 billion of the nation's current personal debt figures of around 1.3 trillion, figures found.
Commenting on the data, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: "Families are now spending more money servicing their debt than at any point in the last decade. When rates rise as expected this summer and probably in the autumn too, many households will not be able to cope.
"As Chancellor, Gordon Brown neglected to tackle this ticking time bomb and we are already seeing rising numbers of repossessions and personal bankruptcies. As Prime Minister, he must take urgent action to tackle spiralling levels of personal debt before more families find themselves on the street."
These figures are likely to take a further turn for the worst in the coming months as analysts are predicting interest rates, currently at 5.5%, to rise a further quarter per cent in early July.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
Content for the uSwitch.com market news service is provided by a third party, Adfero Ltd. Whilst uSwitch.com makes reasonable efforts to check the reliability of this content, uSwitch.com does not guarantee the accuracy thereof or endorse the views or opinions given by Adfero Ltd, unless expressly stated otherwise.