People 'don't know how much debt they are in'
Published On 21 August 2007
Over two million people in the UK have no idea how much debt they are in, meaning that they could require IVAs in the near future.Research from unbiased.co.uk found that six per cent of people in the UK were unable to say how much money they owed on things like credit cards, mortgages and loans.
A further 15.4 million people could not quantify their debt to within £100.
More than four in ten people aged between 18 and 24 were unable to guess within £500 of how much debt they have.
While many people could resort to IVAs to manage their debt, the website's survey found that 19 per cent of the population would sell their possessions to cope with financial difficulty and 20 per cent would expect the government to help them out.
David Elms, chief executive of unbiased.co.uk, said: "This research shows how little the UK consumer is budgeting and preparing for every eventuality.
"Generation Spend is allowing debt to dictate behaviour, rather than taking financial control and keeping a check on debts."
Recently, moneysupermarket.com revealed that people in the UK were being charged more fees to use financial products like credit cards and mortgages.
