I have just received the National Debtline Statistics for 2008 and it makes for some interesting reading. I often see reports talking about ‘vulnerable’ sectors of the population, the aged, the disabled, the unemployed and so on but, judging by this report, the sort of person most likely to seek debt help or debt advice is not in any of those groups.

Having worked out the monthly averages from the data supplied I discovered the following:-

The most likely caller is female (50.78%) aged 36-50 (41.75%), married or living with a partner (53.4%) and in full time employment (43.91%). The most likely debts are overdrafts and loans (69.02%) and credit cards and store cards (67.33%). The total amount of unsecured debt is likely to be in the £5000-£15000 range (25.68%).

Having said that, the above is based on all the calls received by the National Debtline so it may be that, if you take the calls from the different demographic groups as percentages of the people in those groups, a higher percentage of vulnerable groups are more likely to require debt help and debt advice.