A charity says the problem of mounting personal debt is costing the British economy £8bn annually, due to the burden it puts on state services.
StepChange, which hears from half a million people in financial difficulty each year, said dealing with housing problems and job losses due to stress made up the bulk of that figure.
It added the government could save £3bn if it offered people effective help.
The Treasury said it had “taken a series of steps” to help those in debt.
Problem debt which is defined as debt that people have taken on but cannot afford to repay as required.
The biggest cost caused by problem debt was that of having to rehouse, and provide higher housing benefit payments for, people who lose their home after falling behind on mortgage or rent payments.
Approximately 2.9 million people in the UK are estimated to have some form of problem debt, and StepChange said it expected there would have been a 20% year-on-year rise in those using its services by the end of 2014.
Source: bbc.co.uk/news/business
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