Personal debt harder to get

It estimates average UK personal debt is up 20% overall since mid-2004. Average unsecured debt per adult stands at £4,021, up 33.5% since 2001, leaving many consumers struggling. The industry meanwhile is suffering from the increasing load that bad debt provisions incur, with Bank of England data suggesting unsecured debt write-offs jumped by 27.6% to £3.7bn in the first three quarters of 2005 compared with the same period one year earlier. Datamonitor says interviews with lenders suggest they will turn away increasing numbers of customers through stricter lending criteria, while some...