The UK's household debt problem: Is there one, and if so, who's at risk?

<p>For the typical household, debt problems are not as bad as is often painted despite the increase in debt levels, but for low income families, access to high quality credit remains a problem. </p><p> </p><p>Household debt now exceeds one trillion pounds in Britain. With buoyant consumer spending over Christmas, debt-financed consumer spending is commonly perceived to be out of control. But does this picture fit the facts, and which households are most at risk of debt problems? A talk by Richard Disney (Nottingham) delivered on 24th January at the IFS will provide some aggregate economic data and then focus on updating research, published by IFS in 2004, which examined the debts of low income households in the late 1990s, updating the picture to the recent past.</p>