Personal debt in the UK is rising by £1m every four minutes according to research from the national money education charity, Creditaction.

Jackie Newton of Chiltern Debt Management says: “The sums involved are frightening, especially when you break it down and discover that it equates to a total debt of over ¬¨¬£50,000 in each and every household in the UK, of which ¬¨¬£8,500 is unsecured.”

The figures from Creditaction reveal debt has jumped by ¬£110bn in the last 12 months to more than ¬£1.25tr, secured lending rose by 11.3 per cent over the same period to ¬£1.06tr, while total consumer credit lending now stands at ¬£212.2billion Рup by 12 per cent on 2005.

“Interest rates have just risen and are expected to go up again in the New Year, which means increased repayments for those in debt – a rise that in many cases could lead to financial meltdown.”

Chiltern, which provides a professional service to people who are struggling to pay their debts and organising debt consolidation for them currently deals with many customers whose personal, unsecured debt is far below the national average.

“You hear a great deal about extreme cases; where people have run up tens, even hundreds of thousands of pounds of unsecured debt and have no way out.

“What you don’t tend to hear about are the average households that owe a comparatively small amount, but due to changes in circumstance find themselves unable to make their repayments.

Ms Newton says it is these people, many of whom may never have given their credit commitments a second thought, who should review their financial position and ensure they aren’t overstretching themselves or putting themselves at risk should their circumstances change.

“Never take out credit unnecessarily, always take the time to consider whether you really need the facility and, if you do, whether you can afford it in both the short and long term.”

“It’s always better to be safe than sorry,” adds Ms Newton.