AXA research estimates that 1.4m (5%) admit they have taken time off work in the last 12 months as a result of money worries; 1.2m (4%) spend more than four hours a day feeling anxious; seven in ten admit they spend time at work worrying about their finance, with almost a third (31%) spending up to 15 minutes a day worrying.

The recent rise in unemployment has left large numbers of people having to spend far more than they earn each month, according to the UK’s leading debt advice charity, Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS). There has been a significant drop in the income of people coming to the charity for help. Between October 2008 and May 2009 the average yearly income of a couple contacting CCCS dropped by over 12 percent. With average expenditure on priorities and essential living costs remaining the same, the amount available to that couple to repay their debts has dropped from £197 to minus £114. In the second quarter of 2009 over 30 percent of clients being counselled by the charity had to be advised that there was no immediate solution to their debt problem. They neither had the funds for a debt repayment plan nor an IVA, nor qualified for bankruptcy or a debt relief order. Their best hope was to try to increase their income.

The UK and Ireland are the worst places in Europe to live, according to the latest uSwitch.com Quality of Life Index. While the UK enjoys the highest net household income in Europe, quality of life is the poorest, proving that there is more to good living than money. Long working hours, lower holiday entitlement and a high cost of living all contribute to a poor quality of life in the UK.

Citizens Advice is reporting a 46% increase in the number of people struggling with debts owed to their gas and electricity companies. The increase over the last six months follows a rise of 82% in enquires about fuel debts in the three years since 2005/6.

The estimated number of households in fuel poverty in the UK rose between 2006 and 2007 by 0.5 million, to stand at around 4 million (around 16 per cent of all households).

Citizens Advice Bureaux in England & Wales deal with 9,300 new debt problems every working day. Debt problems shot up 27% in the three months to the end of June 2009 compared with the same period last year

The average Brit is just £155 away from a money meltdown. Bright Grey reveals 12m Brits (25%) are currently struggling to cope with their monthly bills and 39% of people would be in trouble if they had to find just £50 extra each month. Essential bills now account for 68% of household income, which equates to £1,378 on average each month per person and £2,001 for families.

According to the latest survey from Equifax, nearly 1 in 3 consumers have turned to parents or other family members for help with debt repayments or finances. And more than half of consumers will freely discuss their financial situation with family.

The percentage of households where no adults work at end of June 2009 was 16.9% (40.4% in lone parent households). The number of working-age people in workless households increased by 500,000 to reach 4.8m. The number of children in workless households was 1.9m, up 170,000 from a year earlier. In addition there are 5.5m households (28.4% of all households) where at least one person aged 16 and over is in employment and at least one other is either unemployed or inactive.

The total number of county court judgments (CCJs) against consumers in England and Wales in Q1 2009 was 182,490 which was a 9.7% decrease from the previous quarter. This is equivalent to 2,000 every day.

A recent profile of CAB clients revealed that CAB debt clients owe an average of £16,971, an amount it would take an average of 93 years to pay off at a rate they can afford. The most common reasons for debt were low income, over-commitment, illness or disability and job loss. But irresponsible lending, poor financial skills and increases in the cost of living had also played a significant part in people’s debt problems.

Plastic card / Personal Loans: uSwitch calculations estimate that 7.3m consumers currently make over 38m cash withdrawals using a credit card every year. The interest rate applied to withdrawals has rocketed by 41% over the past three years from 21.22% APR in 2005 to almost 30% APR.

According to the BBA the proportion of balances bearing interest fell marginally, by 0.6% to 65.3%. Improved reporting for the proportion of balances bearing interest has resulted in a reduced level. Please note, however that this new level cannot be compared with data prior to August.

Total credit card debt in October 2009 was £54.5bn. The UK collective credit limit on credit cards is £158bn, which is an average credit card limit of £5,129 per person.

PricewaterhouseCoopers in their precious plastic 2010 report estimate that the average borrowing per credit card has increased by 5% and has surpassed £1,000 for the first time.

PwC say that bad debts have reached historic highs. Total credit card write-offs stood at 5.8% (£3.2bn) of outstanding balances in 2008. PwC’s forecast suggests that write-offs will continue to increase and could reach 9% of outstanding balances by the end of 2010.

The average interest rate on credit card lending is currently 18.04%, which is 17.54% above base rate (0.5%).

768,000 (47.5%) applications for consumer credit were rejected by the major UK lenders in July.

There were 146.3m debit, credit or charge cards in circulation in the UK at the end of 2008 according to APACS. An average 254 plastic card purchases were made in the UK every second during Q2 2009 using debit and credit cards (equal to £12,113 /second). 94 cash withdrawals were made every second (equal to £6,139 / second) from UK’s 63,678 cash machines during Q2 2009.

There are more credit cards in the UK than people according to APACS. At the end of 2008 there were 71.3m credit and charge cards in the UK compared with around 60 million people in the country.