Debt Statistics 2026: UK and US Household Debt Figures

UK and US Debt Statistics: Insolvencies, Credit Cards and Household Debt

Seven point three million UK adults sit in the group the Money and Pensions Service says needs debt advice right now, and 78% of that group regularly have money worries at the end of the month.

Every official figure on this page comes from the body that publishes it: the Bank of England, the Insolvency Service, the New York Fed, the Federal Reserve, the US Courts, StepChange and the Money and Pensions Service. We show the month or quarter each number covers, because a debt statistic with no date is not worth quoting.

UK: how many people are struggling

The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) splits UK adults into three groups from its 2024 MoneyView survey, published in January 2026. It counts the people who already need advice and, separately, the people one bad month away.

The gap between the groups is where the story is. Look at who often uses credit to pay for food or bills: 19% of all adults, 27% of the at-risk group, and 48% of people who need advice. Nearly one in two people in the worst group are borrowing for the weekly shop.

Source: MaPS, The financial lives of UK people with debts in 2024 (published 29 January 2026). Survey data from 2024.

UK: insolvencies, September 2026

Individual insolvency means three things in England and Wales: a bankruptcy, a Debt Relief Order (DRO) or an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA). The Insolvency Service published the September 2026 figures on 20 October 2026, seasonally adjusted.

Over the 12 months to September 2026 the rate was 28.0 insolvencies per 10,000 adults, up from 24.8 a year earlier. IVAs made up 59% of the total, DROs 35% and bankruptcies 6%.

One shift stands out. IVAs rose 17% in a year while DROs fell 3%. We do not know why from the official release, and it does not say, so treat this as a pattern to watch rather than a cause. If you want to see how the three routes differ, read DRO vs IVA and bankruptcy vs DRO; the bankruptcy guide covers the process.

Sources: Insolvency Service commentary, September 2026 (England and Wales); The Gazette, individual insolvency statistics July 2026 (Scotland, Northern Ireland).

Not sure which of the three routes could apply to you? The Bankruptcy and DRO Checker asks a few questions and shows whether a formal option fits, with no sign-up.

UK: what people borrow, and what it costs

The Bank of England’s August 2026 release, published on 29 September 2026, shows consumer credit growth picking up.

Cards are the fastest-growing part of UK consumer credit at 13.3% a year, and a person carrying a balance pays 21.55% on it. A personal loan costs less than half that. If you have card debt, our Minimum Payment Trap Calculator shows how long the minimum payments take and what the interest adds up to.

Source: Bank of England, Money and Credit, August 2026. Seasonally adjusted. Next release 29 October 2026.

Who actually calls a debt charity

StepChange published its 2025 client figures in 2026. They describe 163,916 people who completed a first debt advice session in 2025.

Picture a 29-year-old, renting, working full time, who opens the app at 11pm and sees a number they did not expect. That person fits the largest age group in this data. (This is a composite built from the table above, not a real person.)

Now put the average debt through a card rate. If all £19,701 sat at 21.55%, the interest alone would be about £4,246 a year, or £354 a month. Most clients do not hold all of it on one card, so read that as the ceiling for that rate, not the usual bill. It does show why a balance can stay still for years while the person pays every month.

Source: StepChange, 2025 personal debt statistics. The interest sum is our own arithmetic.

US: the New York Fed’s Q2 2026 numbers

The New York Fed published its Household Debt and Credit Report for the second quarter of 2026 on 11 August 2026. Total household debt was $18.771 trillion, down $13 billion (0.1%) on the quarter. Of that, 4.7% was in some stage of delinquency, slightly better than the quarter before.

Read the headline carefully. The total fell only because mortgages (-$74 billion) and student loans (-$7 billion) fell. Auto loans, credit cards and home equity lines all rose. A flat total can sit on top of rising card and auto balances.

The second table is about people falling behind. The New York Fed measures the share of balances that moved into serious delinquency, which means 90 or more days late, as an annualised rate.

Student loans improved sharply, from 12.88% to 7.83%, and the all-debt figure also fell, from 2.91% to 2.57%. Credit cards did not move: roughly 7 in every 100 dollars of card balance moved into serious delinquency over a year, both times. If you are in that group, our US debt relief guide explains the options, including Chapter 7 vs Chapter 13 and credit card debt forgiveness.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Q2 2026 press release.

US: bankruptcy filings

*Calculated by us from the court table. Source: US Courts, Bankruptcies rise 12.2 percent (28 July 2026). Chapters 7 and 13 do not add up to the total because other chapters exist.

US: consumer credit and card interest

The Federal Reserve’s G.19 release for August 2026, published on 7 October 2026, counts consumer credit outside mortgages.

The same release gives the average card interest rate for Q2 2026 at commercial banks: 20.94% across all accounts and 22.15% on accounts that were charged interest. The second figure is the one that matters if you carry a balance.

Source: Federal Reserve, G.19 Consumer Credit, 7 October 2026.

Why the numbers do not line up

Two US card figures appear on this page: $1.263 trillion from the New York Fed and $1.352 trillion of revolving credit from the Federal Reserve. They come from different data sources with different definitions. Do not add them, swap them, or quote one against the other.

The UK and US also measure different things. The UK 21.55% is the effective rate on interest-charging cards. The US 22.15% is the average on accounts that were charged interest. They are close, but they are not the same measure, so do not claim one country pays more. The same applies to growth: UK card borrowing grew 13.3% over a year, while US revolving credit shrank at a 4.2% annualised rate in one month. One is a year, the other is a month, and the two cannot be compared.

How to cite this page

You are welcome to quote any figure here if you name the original source, which is linked beside each table. To cite this page itself:

We update this page when the main sources publish. The Insolvency Service and the Bank of England publish monthly (the next Bank of England release is 29 October 2026), the New York Fed quarterly, and the US Courts on a rolling basis. One note on method: the Insolvency Service’s own summary line for September said the total was slightly lower than August, but its table shows 11,894 against 11,684, which is 2% higher. We used the table. If you spot an error, email admin@debtshiftai.com and we will correct it.

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Keep reading

• How Bankruptcy Works in the UK in 2026
• DRO vs IVA UK: Which One Fits You? (2026)
• Chapter 7 vs Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: Which One Fits (2026)
• Credit Card Debt Forgiveness US: What’s Real and What Isn’t

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