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Bank of England releases March debt figures

Yesterday, the Bank of England (BoE) released its `Lending to individuals` figures for March, showing how much extra debt consumers had taken on.

The BoE reports the `net lending` figures - i.e. the amount of debt taken on that month minus the amount repaid. That`s why it`s possible to get negative figures, if the amount of debt repaid is greater than the amount lent out.

So while March`s `consumer credit` (unsecured debt) figure of £325m was low, it was still a lot higher than many of the monthly figures we`ve seen recently. In fact, half of the 12 months before March 2010 showed a negative figure - meaning that people collectively repaid more unsecured debt than they took on.

And last July, something rare happened: the `secured on dwellings` debt figure was negative. A lot of homeowners have been taking advantage of low interest rates to pay off more of their mortgages. At its all-time low of 0.5%, the base rate has taken many people`s mortgage interest rates down with it, giving them an opportunity to overpay their mortgage on a monthly basis - without actually paying any more than they`re used to.

In March 2010, the net lending figure for secured debt was just £318m - not just lower than the £1.848bn we saw in February, but lower than every monthly figure since last July.

At the end of March, according to the Bank of England, people in the UK collectively owed around £1.46tn - £1.24tn of it secured against property and £222bn unsecured.

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