Striking Numbers – 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 each 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.
Every Day in the UK
Net lending to individuals and housing associations in the UK grew by £138 million a day in December 2018.
989 people a day reported they had become redundant in October to December 2018.
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.
Borrowers paid £140 million a day in interest in December 2018.
The number of people unemployed fell by 274 per day in the year to December 2018.
Personal Debt in the UK
People in the UK owed £1.625 trillion at the end of December 2018. This is up from £1.576 trillion at the end of December 2017, an extra £935.34 per UK adult, £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.
Mortgages, Rent and Housing
Outstanding mortgage lending stood at £1.409 trillion at the end of December 2018. This is up from £1.369 trillion a year earlier.
That means that the estimated average outstanding mortgage for the 10.9 million households with mortgage debt was £128,823 in December.
The average mortgage interest rate was 2.48% at the end of December. Based on this, households with mortgages would pay an average of £3,195 in mortgage interest over the year.
For new loans, the average mortgage interest rate was 2.15%. Using the latest figures from UK Finance, this means new mortgages would attract an average of £3,133 in interest over the year.
According to UK Finance, gross mortgage lending in December 2018 totalled an estimated £21.1 billion, up 4.7% on December 2017.
Savings and Pensions
In Q3 2018, households saved an average of 4.3% of their post-tax income, including benefits. This compares with 4.4% in Q3 2017. From 2000 to 2015, the savings rate fluctuated mostly in the 6-10% range, with a post-crash peak of 12% in Q3 2009.
The average interest rate for an instant access savings account, not including bonus interest payments, was 0.25% in December 2018. For a cash ISA, this was 0.92%.
If someone on the average salary saved 4.3% of their income in an average instant access savings account for a year, they would receive £2.36 in interest after tax. If they saved it in an average cash ISA, they would receive £10.87.
Spending and Loans
In the year to November 2018, consumer credit increased by 7.1% according to UK Finance, while outstanding levels of credit card borrowing grew by 7.9%, slightly down on the rate of growth in early 2018.
In Q3 2018, households in the UK spent £108.8 million a day on water, electricity and gas, or £3.97 per household per day. On a seasonally adjusted basis, this was similar to Q2 2018.
The average interest rate on credit card lending bearing interest was 18.66% in December 2018. This is 17.91% above the Bank of England Base Rate of 0.75%.
Statistics source: http://www.themoneycharity.org.uk
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If you would like further information on personal debt solutions please contact Griffin & King Insolvency Practitioners on 01922 722205, and speak to Tim, Mark or Janet. You can also contact Janet by email on janet.peacock@griffinandking.co.uk, or by text or calling on 07545 806531.
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