Fernando de Querol Cumbrera
Research expert covering construction, loans, leasing, savings, and debt
Personal debt in the United Kingdom - statistics & facts
Personal or household debt can generally trace its origins back to mortgages, car loans, or unsecured lending, such as consumer loans, or credit cards. Overall, mortgages were by far responsible for most of the outstanding personal lending in the United Kingdom (UK). Among individuals who sought debt advice, personal loans and credit cards were responsible for most of the unsecured debt. The arrival of new technologies and forms of lending, such as buy now, pay later (BNPL), has brought along new sources of debt. In 2022, the average monthly debt of BNPL users between the ages of 18 to 24 in the UK was higher than for any other age group.
How much debt do households in the UK have?
The total debt of households in the UK has grown significantly during the last two decades, reaching an amount of around 1.95 trillion British pounds in 2021. This value was more than double the amount in 2000. However, the value of debt per capita in the country has remained relatively stable since 2010. Similarly, the household debt to income ratio - measured as the amount owed through loans to the gross disposable income of households - decreased overall during the last decade, after reaching a peak of around 155 percent in 2008. Having a rate above 100 percent, however, meant that the average household in the UK had a higher volume of debt than income.Student loan debt in England
Concerns about the high levels of student loan debt with which some students in England are burdened have increased during the past years. Compared to the outstanding value of student loans in the United States, which amounted to nearly 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, the situation in the UK might not seem cause for alarm. Nevertheless, the outstanding debt on student loans in England is over three times higher than in 2013/2014. That is a much faster increase than in the U.S. The average student loan debt on entry to repayment in Northern Ireland and Wales was significantly lower than in England, although it has also increased during the past years. Finally, Scotland had the lowest average student loan debt in the UK.
