British consumers underestimate their debt to the tune of

According to latest research from MINTEL many of those in debt are burying their heads in the sand, and completely underestimating how much they owe on credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts and other unsecured, non-mortgage loans. When Brits with unsecured, non-mortgage loans were asked to estimate the amount of money they have outstanding on these loans, the average came to £5,251 per person, an incredible £5,050 short of the official figures held by the Bank of England (£10,300 of unsecured debt per borrower). Worryingly, this suggests that, on average, consumers owe almost twice as much as they think they do.