Pensioners have average debts of £15,500

Last updated at 18:12 20 July 2006


More than one million pensioners have debts, owing an average £15,500 each, research showed today.

One in 10 retired people admitted they owed money, with an estimated 70,000 having debts of between £50,000 and £75,000, according to insurer Prudential.

At the same time one in four pensioners said they did not think their current income was sufficient to meet all their financial commitments.

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The group said if people owed an average debt of £15,500 through a loan they were likely to face repayments of just under £300 a month for five years, while if it was credit card debt they were likely to have minimum repayments of around £270 a month.

Previous research carried out by the group found that 1.4 million pensioners were living on less than £5,000 a year, and after paying for necessities such as council tax, water and electricity bills they were left with just under £60 a week.

The group warned that while interest rates had been fairly stable for a number of years, if they started to rise sharply many pensioners were likely to be unable to afford their debt repayments.

Angus MacIver, Prudential UK director, said: "It's worrying to think that such a large number of retirees have debt over £50,000 of which the interest charges will be eating into their well earned retirement funds.

"Debt affects people of all ages but it's harder for retired people to get out of the debt cycle as many don't have any way of boosting their income through working overtime or being promoted at work."

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