Penny-pinching Brits are reining back their borrowing, reducing the rate of national personal debt growth.
UK personal debts are increasing at a slower rate than before, as customers adopt a more conservative budgeting strategy in the financial downturn.
The total deficit, including mortgage debt, stood at £1.46 trillion, according to charity Credit Action. This means that around £42 billion has been added to personal debts over the past year - significantly less than in previous years.
Over the last 12 months, the credit crunch has worsened, pushing the UK into recession and making access to high street credit harder to come by for millions of consumers. This appears to have bred increased financial responsibility among Britons, who are now worrying about spending too much in the downturn.
Typically, each UK household was found to have £59,730 of debt - with each individual owing £30,450.
Moreover, the average household debt in the UK now stands at £9,550, not counting money owed on secured loans such as mortgages. Overall, Credit Action said that the annual secured loans debt increase has fallen from 3.4 percent to 2.8 percent over the last year.
Credit Action also said that, as of January 2009, the nation's total personal debt rose by £1 million every 40.6 minutes. This stood at just 5.3 minutes a year before.
