https://github.com/bbc-data-unit/personal-debt

Personal lending increases four times faster than wages
https://github.com/bbc-data-unit/personal-debt

debt finance loans mortgages

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Personal lending increases four times faster than wages

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/bbc-data-unit/personal-debt
• Owner: BBC-Data-Unit
• Created: 2018-02-14T09:56:03.000Z (almost 7 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2018-02-22T09:57:12.000Z (almost 7 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-11-07T05:28:51.589Z (about 2 months ago)
• Topics: debt, finance, loans, mortgages
• Homepage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42879803
• Size: 2.2 MB
• Stars: 0
• Watchers: 6
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

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README

        
# Personal lending increases four times faster than wages

![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BBC-Data-Unit/personal-debt/master/chatbot_lending.png)

In February 2018 **David Rhodes** [reported that the value of outstanding personal loans in Great Britain had grown four times faster than wages](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42879803).

The story included an embedded interactive **chatbot** which allowed users to find out more about the issue by interacting with the bot.

Interviews for the piece included a woman who accumulated debts to feed her children; the manager of CAP, a charity that helps people in debt; Sylvia Simpson from Leeds-based charity Money Buddies; a spokesperson for UK Finance; and the FCA's director of strategy and competition Chris Woolard. Further context was added by warnings from the Bank of England.

## Get the data

* UK Finance: [UK lending by postcode sector](https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/statistics/postcode-lending/)

* ONS: Full time pay by local authority

* [Nomis](https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/): wage data

* Google sheet: [data analysis](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZSniKUcliZMarVJmHwpVYB8_wSiQILc37CtgH-aA6gw/edit?usp=sharing)

## Interviews and quotes

* Mel Reynolds, who accumulated debts to feed her children; 

* Daniel Kelly, manager of CAP, a charity that helps people in debt; 

* Sylvia Simpson from Leeds-based charity Money Buddies; 

* Spokesperson for UK Finance; 

* Chris Woolard, the FCA's director of strategy and competition 

* The Bank of England: warnings issued

## Visualisation and interactivity

![](https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/1D06/production/_99903470_chart-debt_wages_region_040118-tb8u8-nc.png)

* Chatbot: "This BBC chatbot lets you ask questions about debt and how it affects you."

* Multiple bar chart: Growth in personal loan debt compared with rise in pay 2013-2017: % rise in unsecured personal loan debt vs % rise in median full time wagse

* Bar chart: Biggest rises in unsecured personal loan debt 2013/14-2016/17 by postcode area

## Methodology

Figures on personal lending at a postcode level were [drawn from UK Finance](https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/statistics/postcode-lending/). The raw data is presented by UK Finance with the overall outstanding amount of unsecured debt for each postcode district/area in England by financial quarter. We calculated an average outstanding debt amount for each postcode district for the financial year by averaging out the four quarters in each financial year

Using [data from the 2011 census](https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/numberofhouseholdsbypostcodearea) we then calculated a per capita figure for each postcode district based on to the estimated number of household spaces in each postcode district/area.

It was then possible to analyse the percentage increases in unsecured debt for each postcode area over a three year period.

Comparisons with wage increases can be made at a regional level only. Wage data was extracted from [Nomis](https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/) and relates to the median wage of full time workers in each government region.