One in 15 spend 50% of wage on debt repayments
14/01/2015
One in 15 people who have unsecured debt are spending over half of their take home earnings on monthly repayments, according to new research from the Debt Advisory Centre.
The research found that 65% of UK adults have unsecured debt, including loans, credit cards, store cards and overdrafts. The average person spends about 20% of their take home pay on debt repayments each month, but a third of borrowers have confirmed that their repayments count for between 21% and 49% of their monthly pay, and 7% of borrowers spend more than 50% of their take home pay on unsecured debt.
People aged 25-34 years old were most likely to pay over half their wage to debts, whereas people aged over 55 years old are much more likely to pay less that 20% of their income. The differences in this could be put down to younger people being more likely to live at home and have no dependants so they can afford a bigger portion of their wage to go towards paying off debt.
Ian Williams, spokesman for DAC, said:
“It is alarming to find that for 41% of borrowers their monthly commitments are 21% or more of their pay, and very concerning to find that for 7% of borrowers their repayments account for over half their income. Whatever their circumstances this is unlikely to be sustainable for very long.
”It is likely that many of these people can only survive by cutting back on essentials – perhaps switching off the heating, skipping meals or even getting behind with rent or mortgage payments. It’s really important to remember that – however high they are- unsecured debt repayments should be treated as less of a priority than key bills such as utilities, food and housing.”
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