Over a third of all unsecured debt such as credit cards and overdrafts in Europe belongs to the British, says business research group Datamonitor.
The figures for the UK’s rate of debt overwhelm the rest of Europe’s figures with new British personal debt numbers around the £1.2 trillion mark.
The debt accumulation in the UK was sparked by an overwhelming desire to spend money in the UK, taking advantage of low interest rates and increasing housing prices for 2005.
European credit seekers are starting to gain on UK figures however, as the residents of the eurozone countries benefit from their own strong growth and low interest rates.
Paul Marsh, financial services analyst at Datamonitor, said: “The UK is an increasingly difficult place to do business, due to the highly indebted nature of the population.
Yet in other European countries consumers are not as indebted and the markets are not as sophisticated.”
Personal debt is thought to level off in the UK as people turn to saving after housing prices hit their plateau and people concentrate on paying off their increased credit card bill, which has potentially adverse effects on UK growth.
Public spending estimates have already driven the UK growth rate down, according to Bloomberg reports.
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