The Money Statistics February 2019

24 years How long it would take to save the average first time buyer deposit at the average UK savings rate out of the average UK income

-5.9% Change in the average real wage since pre-crash peak in February 2008

£935.34 Increase in average total debt per adult in the year to December 2018

0.92% Average interest rate on a cash ISA in December 2018

18.66% Average credit card interest rate in December 2018

26 years and 5 months Time to pay off average credit card debt making only the minimum payment per month

£59,261 Average total debt per UK household in December 2018

£7,863 Average consumer credit debt per household in December 2018

£30.8 billion Increase in Public Sector Net Debt (excluding RBS and debt to Bank of England) in the year to December 2018

UK Personal Debt

People in the UK owed £1,625 billion at the end of December 2018.

This is up from £1,576 billion at the end of December 2017, an extra £935.34 per UK adult and £81.72 higher than the previous month.

The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £59,261 in December. The revised figure for November was £59,105.

Per adult in the UK that’s an average debt of £30,995 in December, around 112.8% of average earnings. This is up from a revised £30,914 a month earlier.

Based on December 2018 trends, the UK’s total interest payments on personal debt over a 12 month period would have been £51,004 million. That’s an average of £140 million per day.

This means that households in the UK would have paid an average of £1,860 in annual interest payments. Per person that’s £9733.5% of average earnings.

According to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2018 forecast, household debt is forecast to reach £2.258 trillion in Q1 2022.

This would make the average household debt £80,534 (assuming household numbers track ONS population projections.)

Outstanding consumer credit lending was £215.6 billion at the end of December 2018, increasing by £187 million on the revised total for the previous month.

This is also up from £207.3 billion at the end of December 2017, an increase over the year of £158.76 for every adult in the UK.

Per household, that’s an average consumer credit debt of £7,863 in December, up slightly from a revised £7,857 in November, and £303.54 extra per household over the year.

The average consumer credit borrowing stood at £4,113 per adult, 15% of average earnings. This is up from £4,109 the previous month.

Total credit card debt in December 2018 was £72.2 billion. Per household this is £2,634.

A credit card on the average interest would take 26 years and 5 months to repay, making only minimum repayments each month.

The minimum repayment in the first month would be £64 but would reduce each month. If £64 were paid every month, the debt would be cleared in around 5 years and 4 months.

Total net lending to individuals and housing associations by UK banks and building societies rose by £4.3 billion in December 2018 or £138 million a day.

Net mortgage lending rose by £4.1 billion in the month; net consumer credit lending rose by £0.87 billion.

In Q3 2018 lenders wrote off £1.094 billion (of which £471 million was credit card debt, amounting to a daily write-off of £5.1 million.)

Everyday in the UK

The population of the UK grew by an estimated 1,166 people a day between 2017 and 2018.

On average, a UK household spends £3.97 a day on water, electricity and gas.

371 people a day were declared insolvent or bankrupt in October to December 2018. This was equivalent to one person every 3 minutes and 53 seconds.

3,055 Consumer County Court Judgements (CCJs) were issued every day in England and Wales in 2018, with an average value of £1,431.

Citizens Advice Bureaux in England, Wales and Northern Ireland dealt with 2,477 debt issues every day in the year to January 2019.

12 properties were repossessed every day in Q4 2018, or one every 2 hours.

The number of mortgages with arrears of over 2.5% of the remaining balance fell by 10 a day.

The number of people unemployed fell by 274 per day in the year to December 2018.

989 people a day reported they had become redundant in October to December 2018.

Net lending to individuals and housing associations in the UK grew by £138 million a day in December 2018.

Government debt increased by £84.4 million a day in the year to December 2018.

Borrowers paid £140 million a day in interest in December 2018.

It costs an average of £22.95 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 £27.90 per day.

61 mortgage possession claims and 39 mortgage possession orders were made every day in October to December 2018.

313 landlord possession claims and 255 landlord possession orders were made every day.