COMMENT
Don't Let Debt Destroy Your Dreams!

By Cliff D'Arcy
November 24, 2005

There isn't a week that goes by without me reading a reference to the UK's "trillion-pound debt problem" in the press, or hearing it mentioned on television.

However, as an enthusiastic anti-debt campaigner, I get really annoyed with the pundits who mention this "fact". That's because this figure is fifteen months old and over £130 billion short! For the record, we breezed past the trillion mark in June 2004.

According to the Bank of England, the latest figures show that our total debt at the end of September breaks down as follows:

	£bn
Mortgages	939
Credit and store cards	56
Other unsecured debt (car and personal loans, overdrafts and so on)	135
Total	1,130

Of course, homeowners carry most of this burden, as mortgages make up five-sixths (83%) of this total. Thanks to these home loans, we own around £3.3 trillion of domestic property, so most mortgages are doing their job well. On the other hand, I do worry about our undiminished appetite for unsecured debt, also known as consumer credit.

Although stories in the papers claim that our "desire to acquire" is cooling, the fact remains that our overall unsecured debt continues to grow. Indeed, there have been only three occasions since April 1993 when our consumer credit fell month-on-month, the most recent being a tiny drop of £5 million between November and December 2003. In fact, during the first nine months of 2005, we put another £8.7 billion on the slate. So, despite what other commentators say, I claim that we continue to live on the "never-never"!

Now for the important bit: please, please, please don't put off tackling your debt problem until the last minute. Just as with so many other problems, leaving debt to fester and grow just makes the scale of the problem many times worse! Naturally, the earlier you confront your debts, the easier they will be to pay off.

Earlier this year, I came up with this credit quiz, the answers to which determine how severe your debt problem may be. Even if you've not had any nasty, threatening letters from lenders, it could still be the case that your debts have too much of a hold over you. For example, you might panic when you see a bill, don't open monthly statements, or haven't a clue where all your money goes.

The longer that you avoid confronting your debt problem, the more painful the consequences become. At the end of the line, you could face personal insolvency or bankruptcy, cases of which are running at an all-time high of about 6,000 a month at the moment. Ouch! So, don't leave it to the last minute, take your first positive step today. These articles will help:

• Fifteen Fabulous Money-Saving Tips
• Twenty Steps To Debt Freedom
• Get help and sympathy at our Dealing with Debt discussion board

More: There's more help and advice in our Get Out of Debt centre | Why pay interest? Get a 0% credit card!