Research from FairMoney.com shows聽10.5m Brits experiencing聽the worst finances聽ever 鈥� FairMoney.com breaks down the numbers聽
Dr Roger Gewolb, Founder and Executive Chairman of FairMoney.com makes聽plea for the new Conservative government to place Britain鈥檚 crippled personal finances at the heart of their programme
- Britons on average聽started 2020 with 拢3216 of debt to their name
- Being in the red by 拢4722 on average,聽35-44 year olds experience the highest levels of personal debt
- 10.5 million Britons have expressed that they are in their worst financial position ever
In the UK there are currently 7 million people who claim in-work benefits. In addition to this, an inordinate number of聽testimonies detailing experiences with Universal Credit have highlighted that the experience of personal finance in the UK more often than not, paints a bleak picture. This comes as previous research from FairMoney.com has unveiled that 10.5 million Britons are currently in the worst financial position of their lives.
FairMoney.com, the UK鈥檚 leading fair loan price comparison site, has commissioned national research across 2103 respondents looking into the state of personal debt in the UK at the start of the new year.
- At the start of 2020, the mean personal debt in the UK was聽拢3216
- For 18-24 year olds, personal debt averaged at聽拢2210
- For 25-34 year olds, personal debt averaged at聽拢4397
- For 35-44 year olds, the average personal debt was聽拢4722
- For 45-54 year olds, the mean personal debt was聽拢4196
- For 55-64 year olds, average personal debt averaged聽拢2183
- For those aged 65+, average personal debt totalled聽拢1147
Dr Roger Gewolb, the Founder and Executive Chairman of FairMoney.com,聽has called for domestic policy targeting personal finance to be a chief concern of the British government, and has called for greater fair finance options to be made available for British consumers:
鈥淣ow that the British government have an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons, here at FairMoney.com we call on the government to produce a robust vision for rectifying the mess that is personal finance in the UK. This has long been a policy area that has been neglected in Britain and Britons alike need their 鈥減eople鈥檚 government鈥� to act accordingly.
The recent overdrafts scandal has highlighted that the FCA, Bank of England and government need to do more to improve the nation鈥檚 financial literacy too. In times when people are starting the new year with vast levels of personal debt, institutions need to do more to help people understand how to use their overdrafts responsibly, especially when these fees across both arranged and un-arranged overdrafts mean that many responsible borrowers face the same penalties as people using un-arranged overdrafts.
Action also needs to be taken to offer fair finance options for those in need of short-term financial relief. The FCA have all but eradicated the payday lending industry in the UK. Yes, many of these were unscrupulous lenders, but there was a place for them in society, especially when the FCA鈥檚 response to the overdraft scandal has been to reiterate that people should be using loans over overdrafts.
The other options available to consumers therefore are聽P2P lending platforms, which unfortunately are聽耻苍濒颈肠别苍蝉别诲听deposit takers. Over the past 12 months we have witnessed high profile collapses in the market. The lack of regulation in the market is leading to these collapses, as well as the loss of vast amounts of investments made by individual investors.聽A market report for 2019 showed that the market was channelling 拢6bn in loans to consumers, with 拢5bn being provided by the 鈥渂ig four鈥� platforms. This is an outrageous amount of lending to not secured by proper depositor protection.
The UK needs a聽wide-scale聽cultural shift, and we hope that domestic policies in 2020, as well as the future Budget next month will start to rectify these issues.鈥�
