Londoners Most in Debt

Londoners may have a high-cost of living but they also have the heaviest debts of anyone in the UK.

East London is the most indebted spot in the country yet those living in the north of the south-east of London were also among the top ten indebted areas, according to the indebtedness index from credit monitoring service MyCallcredit.

It looked at a number of debt indicators including high outstanding credit balances, outstanding credit balances, debt relative to income, and falling behind in debt repayments at a regional and town level.

When it comes to towns then people living in Uxbridge are most in the red, followed by Liverpool, Motherwell, Kilmarnock and Birmingham.

MyCallcredit director Alison Nicholson said: "The government and lenders are becoming increasingly concerned about families' levels of debt.

"From a lenders point of view this information helps them identify those customers who are more prone to financial difficulty based on their location. They can then add this to the information they already know and that being shared among lenders to make responsible lending decisions."

The UK is the most debt laden country in Europe with £1.1 trillion owed in loans, mortgages, credit cards and overdrafts, which is cause for concern.

But people living in Dorchester have the lowest level of debt followed by Salisbury, Bournemouth, Taunton, Bath and Oxford.