UK debt burden is booming

The new FSA director of consumer affairs Anna Bradley warned that consumer debt could get "considerably worse before it gets better."

Britons are borrowing record amounts and Ms Bradley is worried that too few consumers properly understand the debt burden they are taking on.

However, the UK credit boom has kept the economy afloat at a time when demand for exports has been weak.

Consumer ignorance

Part of the problem, Ms Bradley said, is that British borrowers give little thought to how their debt could grow in future either through interest rate increases or the need to borrow more to service existing debt.

Many Britons it seems are already in difficulty with the Citizens Advice Bureau reporting a 46% increase in the number of consumer debt cases it handled over the past five years.

"We are very concerned about consumer debt...(This) has always been an issue but perhaps more so now than ever before," Ms Bradley said.

Exacerbating the problems faced by UK consumers is the level of ignorance surrounding investment and savings products, Ms Bradley added.