Pensioners' finances are being hit by a ‘double squeeze' of rising prices and high debt servicing costs, according to a leading debt charity.
Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) says that more than half of pensioners seeking help with their debts would have to spend their entire state pension just to keep up with their minimum monthly credit commitments.
Of the 4,300 pensioners who contacted CCCS for advice in the first six months of 2011, 54 percent faced minimum monthly debt repayments higher than the amount they received from the state pension each month. Pensioners owed an average of £20,831 on credit cards, loans and other types of unsecured credit, and faced an average minimum repayment of £664 per month in order to service their debts - almost one-and-a-half times the basic state pension of £443 per month.
Delroy Corinaldi, external affairs director at CCCS, says: "These figures show the alarming scale of the debt problem among older people in the UK. Many pensioners are suffering a double squeeze on their income - with high debt servicing costs adding to existing difficulties caused by rising food and energy bills. I am concerned that an increasing number are at risk of falling into serious debt.
"Help is available - and with charities such as CCCS providing free advice and support on how to deal with debt, there should never be a need to pay for it."
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