UK Personal Debt Statistics 2026

Up-to-date UK personal debt statistics cited to official sources: Bank of England, The Money Charity, Insolvency Service, FCA, StepChange and Citizens Advice.

A curated, sourced digest of UK debt data for journalists, researchers, and anyone trying to understand the real picture. Every figure links to a primary source published in 2026. Last updated: 16 July 2026.

Key statistics at a glance

Total UK personal debt: £1,966.6 billion at the end of April 2026, up £64.5 billion in a year (The Money Charity, June 2026)
Average total debt per household: £67,707 including mortgages; £34,819 per adult (The Money Charity, April 2026)
Effective credit card interest rate: 21.45% on interest-charging cards (Bank of England, May 2026)
Adults who have experienced problem debt: 51%, and 44% of them told no one (StepChange, March 2026)
Individual insolvencies: 11,223 in England and Wales in May 2026, 10% higher than May 2025 (Insolvency Service)
UK adults who used BNPL: 10.9 million, or 20% (FCA Financial Lives Survey, 12 months to May 2024)

Total debt and borrowing growth

People in the UK owed £1,966.6 billion at the end of April 2026, up £64.5 billion from £1,902.1 billion a year earlier — an extra £1,142 per UK adult. Servicing that debt cost borrowers an estimated £89.3 billion in interest over 12 months, or £245 million a day. (Source: The Money Charity, The Money Statistics, June 2026)

UK personal debt by type, end of April 2026 (The Money Charity)
Type of personal debt	Total	Per household	Per adult
Secured (mortgages)	£1,713.1bn	£58,979	£30,330
Unsecured consumer credit	£253.5bn	£8,728	£4,489
— of which credit card debt	£79.7bn	£2,742	£1,410
Grand total (April 2026)	£1,966.6bn	£67,707	£34,819

The Bank of England reports net consumer credit borrowing of £1.7 billion in May 2026, with annual growth of 8.9% for all consumer credit and 12.1% for credit card borrowing. (Source: Bank of England, Money and Credit - May 2026, published 29 June 2026)

Credit cards

Outstanding credit card debt reached £79.7 billion in April 2026, up 7.1% (£5.3 billion) over the year. The effective interest rate on interest-charging credit cards was 21.45% in May 2026, up from 21.20% in April. UK Finance figures show 48.0% of credit card balances were bearing interest in March 2026. A card at the average rate would take 27 years and 10 months to clear making only minimum repayments. (Sources: Bank of England, May 2026; The Money Charity, June 2026)

What borrowing costs in 2026

Effective (average paid) interest rates, Bank of England, May 2026
Borrowing type	Effective rate
Interest-charging overdrafts	21.57%
Interest-charging credit cards	21.45%
New personal loans	9.66%
Newly drawn mortgages	4.22%
Outstanding mortgage stock	3.92%
Bank of England Bank Rate	3.75%

Mortgages

Outstanding mortgage lending stood at £1,713.1 billion at the end of April 2026; the average outstanding mortgage across 10.63 million mortgaged households was £161,152. Net mortgage borrowing fell to £2.9 billion in May 2026 (lowest since May 2025) and approvals for house purchases fell to 56,200, the lowest for any month since December 2023. UK Finance reports 79,110 homeowner mortgages (0.91%) in arrears of at least 2.5% of the balance in Q1 2026. (Sources: Bank of England, May 2026; The Money Charity, June 2026)

Buy now, pay later

The FCA's 2024 Financial Lives Survey found that 20% of UK adults — around 10.9 million people — used BNPL in the 12 months to May 2024. The BNPL market grew from £0.06 billion in 2017 to over £13 billion in 2024. From 15 July 2026, BNPL is regulated by the FCA, with mandatory affordability checks and access to the Financial Ombudsman Service. (Source: FCA press release, 11 February 2026)

Problem debt and debt advice

StepChange research for Debt Awareness Week 2026 found 51% of UK adults have experienced problem debt; 44% of them told no one, and 79% said it caused significant stress. (Source: StepChange, 16 March 2026)

StepChange's Statistics Yearbook 2025 shows 163,916 new clients completed their first debt advice session in 2025, with average unsecured debt and arrears of £19,701 — up 10% in a year. In May 2026, 14,717 clients completed debt advice, 12% more than in May 2025; 73% held credit card debt. (Sources: StepChange Statistics Yearbook 2025; Monthly Client Data Report, May 2026)

Citizens Advice helped more than 400,000 people with debt in 2025, up nearly 45% on 2021. Average debt per client rose 36% since 2021 to £8,933, and 50% of debt clients are in a negative budget — their income does not cover essential costs. (Source: Citizens Advice, Deeper still: the shape of debt in 2025, 30 March 2026)

Insolvencies

Individual insolvencies, England and Wales, May 2026 (Insolvency Service, seasonally adjusted)
Procedure	Number
Bankruptcies	656
Debt relief orders (DROs)	4,191
Individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs)	6,376
Total	11,223

In the 12 months to May 2026, one in every 376 adults in England and Wales became insolvent (26.6 per 10,000, up from 24.1 a year earlier). There were 4,817 Breathing Space registrations in May 2026, 38% fewer than a year earlier. 2,957 consumer County Court Judgements were issued every day in Q1 2026, up 18.3% year-on-year, with a median value of £607. (Sources: Insolvency Service, Individual insolvencies May 2026, published 19 June 2026; Registry Trust, via The Money Charity)

Households under pressure

46% of UK households had either no savings or less than £1,500 in savings in 2024-25 (Family Resources Survey, via The Money Charity). Private rents rose 3.3% in the year to May 2026, with the average UK monthly rent at £1,383, and unemployment rose to 4.9%. (Sources: The Money Charity, June 2026; ONS, Private rent and house prices, UK)

For journalists

All numbers link to original sources, verified live on 16 July 2026. Where a primary source blocks automated access (for example UK Finance), figures are quoted as relayed by The Money Charity's monthly digest. Suggested citation: Debtfreeo. "UK Personal Debt Statistics 2026." debtfreeo.com/uk-debt-statistics-2026. Accessed 16 July 2026.