July 2022 Debtfree Issue

Perhaps unsurprisingly, financial stress was most acute amongst the
younger respondents and those with less income. However, 40% of
all respondents were spending over half their take home pay to repay
debt.
“More alarmingly, 72% of all respondents
need 30% or more of their take home pay to
repay debt. If one considers that DebtBusters
deems 30% of take-home pay to be the level
at which debt repayments can be managed
sustainably, one can conclude that 72% are
in an unsustainable debt position.“
“This is simply untenable so it’s not surprising that stress levels are so
high,” says Nxawe.
One in six people believed that they had less debt than their peers,
while five in six believed they had the same or more debt. Under 25s
generally believed that others had more debt than they did.
Reactions to dealing with financial stress ranged from cutting back
on monthly expenditure to selling personal items, with most people
(43%) opting to tighten their belts.
Twenty six percent looked to increase their income by finding a better
job. Unsurprisingly younger people were more likely to seek higherpaying
jobs. However, one in six (14%) said they felt stuck and didn’t
know what to do.