Many 'in denial about debt'
Published On 7 September 2007
Over four million in the UK have serious debt problems, but as many as two thirds of these individuals are in denial about their situation.Research carried out by Chiltern found that more than one in 16 people in the country have to spend 25 per cent of their salary paying off unsecured debts each month.
However, just 2.2 per cent of the population said that they thought they were in severe debt.
While men were found to be more likely to be in serious financial trouble than women, it was also more common for them to admit their problem and look at ways to get themselves out of debt.
Chiltern's Joanne Gill commented: "There are lots of people who are officially 'overindebted', but two thirds of them don't think they have a problem.
"Unfortunately debts don't go away, they need to be repaid and ignoring them will just make the situation worse.
"Anyone who is paying a quarter of their income to service unsecured debts should get help to put those repayments on a sustainable footing before the situation gets worse."
Figures from Credit Action show that personal debt in the UK reached £1.355 trillion in July this year.
