Debt

Debt is something that affects almost all of us. Mortgages, student loans, hire purchase agreements for example are all various forms of debt that people handle on an everyday basis. However, for some people, debt and credit repayments do bring real problems, with credit easier to obtain than ever, and some lenders charging interest rates exceeding 100% APR.

Statistics tell us that:

• personal debt in the UK stands at around £1.3 trillion, an increase of 10.5% in 12 months
• average household debt including mortgages is £54,000
• 300 people nationally will be declared insolvent or bankrupt today
• £1.3 billion will be spent using plastic cards today
• the average Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) client will take 77 years to repay their debts in full
• personal debt rises by £1 million pounds every four minutes

Plymouth City Council and its statutory, voluntary and community sector partners have all contributed to England's only multi agency Income Maximisation Strategy. In partnership, we aim to co-ordinate services to enable people to receive free, professional, independent and confidential advice in all aspects of money and debt advice.

Documents

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Debt advice directory - please use this directory to find out where you can get free confidential and professional advice around issues such as debt, budgeting and money management. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 2.2MB