Submitted on Wednesday 19th March 2008
UK debt now £1.159 trillion
Credit data expert Experian has announced that UK borrowing on mortgages, credit cards, overdrafts and loans increased to £1.159 trillion in the last year
According to the report outstanding debt on mortgage balances showed the largest increase over the last 12 months.
Bruno Rost, spokesperson for Experian, said its results show lenders had been tightening lending criteria before August 2007.
He said: "It shows that growth in lending has slowed markedly across all key credit products and credit tightening on cards, loans and mortgages was already well established in advance of the so-called credit crunch"
Rost said the worst affected area was Northern Ireland which had shown a 23% increase in debt balances. This may have something to do with the fact that their housing market is in a different part of the cycle to the rest of the UK
The data also revealed mortgage balances had risen 10.8% over the past 12 months compared to 16.4% in the previous 12 months.
It seems that the growth in outstanding mortgage balances had been in line with house price inflation.
Rost said consumer loans had proved the exception by showing a slight decrease in debt balances.
