More than 10m people across UK struggling to pay bills and credit repayments this year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

New research from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) suggests that around one in five adults were finding bills and credit commitments a heavy burden by the start of this year.

The City regulator found that the number of adults struggling this way is estimated to have increased by 3.1 million since May 2022, rising from around 7.8 million (15%) in May last year to 10.9 million (21%) in January 2023.

The number of UK adults who had missed bills or loan payments in at least three of the previous six months is also estimated by the FCA to have increased by 1.4 million, from 4.2 million (8%) in May 2022 to 5.6 million (11%) in January 2023.

The regulator released the latest figures after gathering more than 5,000 responses as part of its UK-wide survey of people aged 18 and over.Researchers also found that 29 per cent of adults with a mortgage and 34 per cent of renters had experienced payment increases in the six months to January this year.There were also signs of some people reducing their insurance cover as a way to ease general living costs pressures - which could leave them worse off or in difficulty if something goes wrong.Among people who had insurance and protection policies last spring, eight per cent had cancelled one or more policies and seven per cent had reduced their level of cover, specifically to save money due to rising living costs, in the six months to January this year.Some did both - meaning that around 6.2 million adults (13%) who had policies in May 2022 had cancelled or reduced their cover by January 2023.The FCA is reminding borrowers that they can get help from their lenders if they are struggling to keep up with payments.It also said it has repeatedly reminded firms of the importance of