A total of 753 young people aged 18 and 19 contacted CCCS in 2010, seeking advice on how to deal with an average of £2,254 in unsecured debt. For those who had overdraft debt, the average amount owed was £671, for those who had a personal loan, the average borrowed was £2,610, and for those who had credit card debt, the average outstanding balance was £898.
The charity is concerned by the proportion of 18- and 19-year-olds who blame lack of budgeting for their debt problems, which is twice that for CCCS clients overall. In 2010, one in 10 clients in this age group cited a lack of budgeting as the main cause of their debt problem, compared to 5% of clients across all age groups.
The charity says that these figures underline the need for financial education to be added to the school curriculum.
The charity's director of external affairs Delroy Corinaldi said: "These figures show how quickly young people can fall into debt in the first few years of adult life. While financial education is not a silver bullet, it is essential that we give young people the tools to be able to make informed decisions about their finances - both to help them avoid falling into debt, and to help them out of it if they do.
"We also need to get across the message that free, non-judgmental help is available if you fall into financial difficulty - and with several debt charities offering free advice and support, there should never be a reason to pay for it."
