Britons owe £1.6-trillion in debt — with higher borrowing costs coming
For the first time in three decades, Brits are spending more than they earn, particularly lower income earners
London — Are Britons living beyond their means? That is the question being asked by the UK’s office for national statistics (ONS) after households saw their outgoings exceed their incomes last year for the first time in three decades. Each household spent or invested about £900 more than they received on average — £25bn in total, according to an ONS article published on Thursday. Britons were previously net borrowers in 1988, the height of a credit-fueled economic boom generated by then Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson. But even then, the shortfall was just £300m. To fund the deficit, people have been borrowing more and saving less, encouraged by years of record-low interest rates. Even in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis, when home buyers were granted mortgages covering the entire value of the property and sometimes more, households were still net lenders, the ONS said. "If any more evidence were needed that the Bank of England (BOE) has left it too late to raise int...
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