Nine million Brits in 'serious debt'

The Money Advice Service has released a report saying that nearly nine million people across the UK are now having serious debt issues.

17:00 27 November 2013

The Money Advice Service (MAS) has released a new report that gives insight as to how the financial crunch has affected the population. The report says that nearly nine million Brits are now living with serious debt problems but only a small number of those affected are seeking professional help.

According to the survey, 18per cent of the population (8.8 million) are having serious financial issues and 74per cent of them said that they were “unhappy.”

Caroline Rookes, the chief executive of MAS, encouraged these people to get help. She said: "Millions of people could escape their spiral of debt by accessing free advice.”

"We know it transforms lives and the sooner people access it, the better - to take steps to improve their life for good.”

The study also released the top five cities where people are over-indebted. Among the five, Hull is the one that is in deepest financial trouble as 43.1per cent of its population admitted to missing repayments half of the time for the last 6 months. The other cities are Nottingham, Knowsley, Manchester, and Liverpool. These areas had at least 40per cent of the population in heavy debt.

Ann Jones, a grandmother from Hull, admitted to struggling paying back her £2,000 bank loan. She said: "Everything got so expensive, and before you knew where you were, you just didn't have enough at the end of the month.”

"It's nerve-racking. It's made me really ill.”