Here’s some information about debt in the UK.
The average debt in the UK was over £1.7 billion at the end of November 2021. The average total debt per household in 2021 was £63,112. Unsecured debt from personal loans was estimated at £208 billion in 2019. As stated in UK personal debt statistics, 63% of UK adults had personal debt in 2019.
https://cybercrew.uk/blog/debt-statistics-uk/
I’ve been writing over the past few months about the Cost of Living Crisis. One of the biggest contributors to that crisis is the amount of debt that individuals and families are having to pay off each year.
Back when we were approaching the Year 2000, there was a campaign to encourage lenders to write off the debt of some of the poorest countries in the world. It was based on the Biblical principle of Jubilee. This was the idea that every 50 years, there was a Jubilee celebration where slaves were released, land returned and debt cancelled.
This year we are celebrating a Jubilee. Indeed, this weekend marks the formal events as we celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee (70 years since her coronation). Here’s a very simple proposal to help with the cost of living crisis. What if we were to make this a real Jubilee and look at ways of writing off debt.
This could be funded by a Jubilee fund. We would ask wealthier people, those who are debt free, the Royal Family and the Government to contribute to this. Then we’d focus on the following as funds allow:
- Cancelling long term debt for those who are also on benefits and low incomes.
- Cancelling debt on all outstanding Student loans
- A repayment holiday for other loans including personal loans and mortgages.
Cancelling debt would therefore be funded by those able to support it. This would encourage a sense of “we are all in this together.” It would also free up people’s disposable income enabling them to pay their energy and food bills. It would also by freeing up disposable income help to protect against the coming recession.
Faithroots 