This may seem like quite a strange statement to be making, but new research form Unbiased.co.uk has found that the average person living in the UK spends the first 50 days worth of salary on repaying their personal loans and other debts.

The consumer website, which helps to put individuals in touch with independent advisers for home owner loans and other financial matters, has declared that the 20th of February this year should be known as “Debt freedom day.”

Debt freedom day has been calculated as the point in the year when an average person with loans would have cleared all their debt commitment for the year, if they had used every penny of their salary to repay their loans from the beginning of the year. To put it another way, 13.7 per cent of an individual’s earnings are going towards repaying personal loans and other debts.

Despite the fact that many banks, building societies and other loan companies have been particularly reluctant to offer loans to anyone over the course of the last couple of years and also that many people in the UK are concentrating on repaying as much of their personal debt on loans and credit cards as they possibly can, the average debt level amongst individuals in the UK is still increasing, as individuals continue to take out new personal loans and use their credit cards to supplement their salaries.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) has commented that this news shows just why individuals should not become complacent about their loans and other debts and should manage their debt repayment more actively.

Karen Barrett of Unbiased.co.uk commented on the figures, she said “Debts can quickly mount up to a considerable sum and this rate demonstrates that debt is something that we need to take control of and actively manage.”