The Money Statistics November 2020

318,000 Increase in unemployment in the year to September 2020

£3,901 Total unsecured debt per UK adult in September 2020

£60,449 Average total debt per UK household in September 2020

4.2% Increase in average first-time buyer house price in the year to September 2020

£2,204 Average credit card debt per household in September 2020

-15.1% Change in outstanding credit card balances in year to September 2020

28.1% Proportion of household income saved in April to June 2020, influenced by Covid-19 lockdown and furlough

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 £1,685 billion at the end of September 2020.

This is up by £23.4 billion from £1,662 billion at the end of September 2019, an extra £441 per UK adult over the year.

The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £60,449.

Per adult this was £31,798, around 110.3% of average earnings. This is up from a revised £31,733 a month earlier.

Based on September 2020 numbers, the UK’s total interest payments on personal debt over a 12-month period would have been £45,431 million, an average of £124 million per day.

The average annual interest per household would have been £1,630 and per person £8572.97% of average earnings.

According to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2020 forecast, household debt of all types is forecast to rise from £2.068 trillion in 2019-20 to £2.425 trillion in 2023-24.

This would make the average household debt £86,388 (assuming household numbers track ONS population projections.) This forecast is pre-Covid-19.

At the end of September 2020, outstanding consumer credit lending was £206.7 billion, falling by £1.03 billion on the revised total for the previous month.

Within the total, outstanding credit card debt came to £61.4 billion, a decrease of 15.1% in the year to September 2020. Credit card debt averaged £2,204 per household and £1,160 per adult.

A credit card on the average interest would take 25 years and 4 months to repay, making only the legal minimum repayments each month.

The minimum repayment in the first month would be £57 but would reduce each month. If £57 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 £3.40 billion in September 2020 or £113.3 million a day over revised figures for August 2020.

Net mortgage lending rose by £4.43 billion in the month, while net consumer credit lending fell by £1.03 billion.

In Q2 2020 lenders wrote off £851 million (of which £358 million was credit card debt, amounting to a daily write-off of £3.9 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.

280 people a day were declared insolvent or bankrupt in England or Wales in August to October 2020. This was equivalent to one person every 5 minutes and 8 seconds.

In Northern Ireland in October 2020, there were 3.7 insolvencies per day and in Scotland 25.3 insolvencies per day.

Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales dealt with 1,960 debt issues every day in the year to September 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 2,641 per day in the three months to September 2020.

3,413 people a day reported they had become redundant in July to September 2020.

Net lending to individuals and housing associations in the UK grew by £113 million a day in September 2020.

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

Borrowers paid £124 million a day in interest in September 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.