The answer to this question is easy - YES. Britain is over its limit with credit cards, secured loans and personal loans, and according to creditaction.com the debt is still increasing - by £1 million every four minutes. Furthermore the FSA have said that approximately two million households are living on a "financial knife edge" and are vulnerable due to changes in personal circumstances or sudden economic disadvantages. Indeed, three quarters of British couples find money the hardest subject to talk about with their partners and when they do over a quarter regularly argue while about a third will lie to each other about how much is outstanding on their credit cards.

Given these alarming statistics, it's no surprise that debt advice in the UK is in high demand. The Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) has dealt with 1,128,000 debt enquiries in 2005 alone and in the last decade the number of consumer debt problems dealt with by the CAB has increased 118%.

Research carried out by creditaction.com shows that the debt statistics are most worrying among the younger and older sections of the population:-

• Young people (30 and below)
  
  Young people have the highest level of unsecured debt in the UK owing on average nearly £8,000 per person. This debt has been accumulated through credit cards, overdrafts and loans while student loans make up 46% of the figure.
  
  Perhaps, lack of financial understanding is partly to blame for the debt problems young people face. A recent FSA report highlighted that 29% of people aged between 16 to 24 do not know how to prepare and manage a weekly budget and 62% do not know where they can receive support or debt advice when they do accumulate debts they cannot manage. Furthermore, the National Union of Students (NUS) has also raised concerns that students do not realise that top-up fees will create additional debt and even those who do underestimate the total level of debt they will accumulate during university.
• Pensioners (60 and above)
  
  Research from Scottish Widows bank has revealed that one in six pensioners who own a home have an outstanding mortgage with an average debt of £45,313, which puts a lot of pressure on their retirement income. This situation is made worse by the fact that 1.4 million pensioners live on an income of £5,000 or less - that is before they have paid for the council tax, water and electricity bills.

The heavy burden of debt on the country is also becoming a serious health concern. AXA say that money worries can cause worry, anxiety and stress and leading mental health expert Dr Roger Henderson has even identified a specific condition relating to this - Money Sickness Syndrome (MSS), which can cause problems in the workplace and be detrimental to personal relationships.

So, how can you begin to tackle your debt problems?

Debt advisors at Finance INC. say that one of the first things you need to do if you are in this situation is change your bank account if you have any outstanding debt with your current bank. Staying with your current bank whilst you have debt with them will keep the bank in control, as they will decide how much money to take out of your account to clear your bank debt. On the other hand, changing bank accounts will help you to regain control of your finances and wipe the slate clean and a lot of banks offer good basic accounts for people with a poor credit rating that will allow you to do this.

Click Here to see bank accounts table which shows you some of the high street banks and the basic accounts they offer.