The Money Statistics December 2020

£260 billion Amount that would be raised from a 1% wealth tax levied for five years on households with wealth of £1m+

-16.4% Change in outstanding credit card balances in year to October 2020

£2,177 Average credit card debt per household in October 2020

411,000 Increase in unemployment in the year to October 2020

£60,580 Average total debt per UK household in October 2020

£3,879 Total unsecured debt per UK adult in October 2020

4.9% Increase in average first-time buyer house price in the year to October 2020

6 years Time to save for a first-time buyer house deposit, saving at the average rate out of average UK income (at April to June 2020 rate of household saving)

UK Personal Debt

People in the UK owed £1,688.5 billion at the end of October 2020.

This is up by £21.8 billion from £1,667 billion at the end of October 2019, an extra £412 per UK adult over the year.

The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £60,580.

Per adult this was £31,867, around 109.1% of average earnings. This is up from a revised £31,796 a month earlier.

Based on October 2020 numbers, the UK’s total interest payments on personal debt over a 12-month period would have been £45,156 million, an average of £123 million per day.

The average annual interest per household would have been £1,620 and per person £8522.92% of average earnings.

According to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s November 2020 forecast, household debt of all types is forecast to rise from £2.062 trillion in 2020 to £2.373 trillion in 2025.

This would make the average household debt £83,308 (assuming household numbers track ONS population projections.)

At the end of October 2020, outstanding consumer credit lending was £205.5 billion, falling by £1.03 billion on the revised total for the previous month.

Within the total, outstanding credit card debt came to £60.7 billion, a decrease of 16.4% in the year to October 2020. Credit card debt averaged £2,177 per household and £1,145 per adult.

A credit card on the average interest would take 25 years and 3 months to repay, making only the legal minimum repayments each month.

The minimum repayment in the first month would be £56 but would reduce each month. If £56 were paid every month, the debt would be cleared in around 5 years and 2 months.

Total net lending to individuals and housing associations by UK banks and building societies rose by £3.75 billion in October 2020 or £121 million a day over revised figures for September 2020.

Net mortgage lending rose by £4.77 billion in the month, while net consumer credit lending fell by £1.03 billion.

In Q3 2020 lenders wrote off £940 million (of which £365 million was credit card debt, amounting to a daily write-off of £4.0 million.)

Everyday in the UK

The population of the UK grew by an estimated 990 people a day between 2018 and 2019.

On average, a UK household spends £4.16 a day on water, electricity and gas.

316 people a day were declared insolvent or bankrupt in England or Wales in September to November 2020. This was equivalent to one person every 4 minutes and 34 seconds.

In Northern Ireland in November 2020, there were 3 insolvencies per day and in Scotland 20.4 insolvencies per day.

Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales dealt with 1,871 debt issues every day in the year to October 2020.

1.7 properties was repossessed every day in July to September 2020 in the UK, or one every 13 hours and 48 minutes.

The number of UK mortgages with arrears of over 2.5% of the remaining balance rose by 9 a day.

The number of people unemployed in the UK grew by 2,620 per day in the three months to October 2020.

4,022 people a day reported they had become redundant in August to October 2020.

Net lending to individuals and housing associations in the UK grew by £121 million a day in October 2020.

Government debt increased by £640 million a day in the year to September 2020.

Borrowers paid £123 million a day in interest in October 2020.

It costs an average of £23.25 per day for a couple to raise a child from birth to the age of 18.

For a lone parent family, the cost of raising a child comes to £28.22 per day.

1.2 mortgage possession claims and 0.3 mortgage possession orders were made every day in England and Wales in July to September 2020.

43 landlord possession claims and 1.4 landlord possession orders were made every day.