'Most' debt help seekers owe £10K or more

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2006

Most of those seeking help with debt are in the red by £10,000 or more, according to The Debt Counsellors.

Of those seek help for their debt problems, at least 70 per cent owe over £10,000, according to the latest debt survey from financial advice company The Debt Counsellors.

And more than one in ten of those seeking advice have debts of over £50,000, the survey discovered.

The UK's overall personal debt is growing by £1 million every four minutes.

John Porter of The Debt Counsellors said: "We are seeing many cases where a large amount of money is owed.

"However, even the smaller debts are a cause for concern because a change in personal circumstances, such as redundancy, illness or bereavement, an economic downturn or a rise in interest rates could make the problem much worse."

Even the most dire cases of personal debt do have solutions, such as individual voluntary agreements (IVA), added Mr Porter.

The Debt Counsellors advises all those who are struggling with unbearable amounts of debt to seek advice before anything else.

Recently, Brunel Franklin set up burnadebt.co.uk, a free website which gives consumers a completely free test, which the website claims take about 60 seconds, to see if they are eligible for an IVA.

The company which set up the website, Brunel Franklin, is one of the foremost mis-sold endowment specialists in the UK.