For those who are saving are only saving around 8 per cent of their wages each month. This is about £100 per month. Over a third of people think that they do not have enough money put away for a rainy day. Savers are struggling right now but there is hope.

Findings have shown that two fifths of people between the ages of 16-24 are dedicated to saving money, this is compared to 25 per cent of 35-44 year olds. It proves that no matter what age you are or how much you earn you can still save if you are dedicated.

It is important for people to put a little away when they can, so if you happen to be one of the 6 million that has no savings behind them, then maybe it is time to think about opening a savings account.

Newbury MP Richard Benyon and his counterpart for North West Hampshire Sir George Young have backed a new all-party Parliamentary group which wants debt management and financial education to be placed firmly on the national curriculum for UK schools.

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Financial Education for Young People officially launched last week and was formed in response to the credit crunch and subsequent economic downturn. With university tuition fees set to rise, the group has hopes to increase awareness among young people of the need to properly manage their unsecured personal loans, credit cards and other forms of personal finance.

Mr Benyon told the Newbury Today News website that “I have called for a long time for greater economic literacy for children as well as adults. It’s really important that young people in schools have these issues to explained to them, and how they need to deal with personal finances,” he added.

For his part, Sir George attended the launch of the APPG, saying: “I believe that it is now more important than ever that we bring up a generation of financially literate young people, who are able to deal with the financial challenges they will face as adults, whether it’s choosing financial products or planning for a secure financial future.”

With millions of pounds set to be lent in the form of unsecured personal loans this year, and with the cost of taking out personal loans set to fall once again, the call for financial education to be set as standard in Britain’s schools seems to be a timely one.

Legal experts at the commission said that there was no reason why people having difficulties with repaying personal loans should face court action or even the threat of jail. In a submission to the government they called for a wide-ranging overhaul of bankruptcy and repayment legislation.

They said that the harshest penalty for someone who cannot – and even someone who will not – repay their personal loans should be community service.

LRC commissioner Patricia Rickard-Clarke said that there was no benefit to placing debtors in prison, especially as the debts remained. “We just feel, for debt, it’s a civil breach not a criminal offence. Debt and non-repayment is a civil offence,” she explained.

“There’s the cost of sending people to prison and the debt still remains whenever they come out. It does not benefit the creditors, and the people going to prison don’t earn a living.”

The reforms proposed by the commission would apply to debts accrued on credit cards, small business loans, overdrafts and unsecured personal loans. The current judicial regime would be superseded by more efficient debt enforcement agencies whose job it would be to secure repayment programmes that were of mutual benefit to the borrower and lender.

The LRC also called for greater regulation of collection agencies to prevent criminal activity and harassment of debtors in Ireland.

The paper published a survey by insurance and investment group LV= suggested that in the month before Christmas, credit card spending will exceed £10.7 billion – much of it going on seasonal gifts. The paper said that children’s presents are likely to cost parents around £168 on average, with the cost rising to £201 for 11-18 year-olds.

In order to help consumers throughout the North East avoid excessive levels of unmanageable debt this Christmas, the Echo published a list of tips to keep spending decisions sensible.

Among these was the recommendation to “fix a personal loan”. The article pointed out that rate cuts from some of the leading providers of unsecured personal loans, such as Nationwide, Tesco and Sainsbury’s meant that average rates for some loans between £5,000 and £15,000 were at their lowest for 16 months, making a loan far better value than simply splurging on credit cards.

Personal loans can also be used for debt consolidation as well, making them useful products for organising finances after Christmas is over.

If a consumer wishes to put their Christmas shopping on a credit card, perhaps in order to take advantage of the protection offered under the Consumer Credit Act, it went on to stress that choosing the right card was paramount. This is because deals on a range of credit cards vary wildly, with some providers offering 0 per cent credit cards for up to 13 months.

The IMF made the remarks in its half-yearly World Economic Outlook report, where it also complained that Britain’s property prices were too high – a situation that it referred to as “worrisome”. The report noted the attempts by British consumers to reduce their personal debt levels, but insisted that they were still too high.

“Household debt ceased to grow during 2009 in the US and the UK,” said the IMF. “While this has brought about a noticeable decline in ratios of debt-to-income and debt-to-financial assets, these ratios remain well above the levels of a decade ago.”

The most recent figures on personal debt published by the Bank of England said that UK consumers currently have a total of £1.457 trillion owed. The vast majority of this figure – some £1.24 trillion – is secured debt in the form of mortgages, with the other £216 billion taking the form of unsecured personal loans, credit card debt, bank overdrafts, store finance or auto finance.

One method of reducing personal debt levels is to take out an unsecured personal loan for the purposes of debt consolidation. In this way, smaller debts can be paid off completely – especially high interest debts such as credit cards – while the remaining sums can be bundled into one manageable monthly payment.

Debt consolidation loans are also a good way to repair a bad credit rating.

In its section on UK property prices, the IMF report warned of a possible crash, as prices were “overvalued and vulnerable to a fall”. It pointed out that the level of demand for properties have fallen in the past couple of years, as has the availability of mortgages.

Addressing the Conservative Party conference on Monday, Chancellor George Osborne said that he wants to introduce a £500 a week cap on benefits for unemployed families, potentially affecting the income of some 5,000 families who stand to lose an average of £93 a week. Other government plans to axe child benefit for families earning more than £44,000 a year will also affect many household finances.

With many households finding it difficult to repay their existing mortgages, credit card bills and unsecured personal loans, charities such as Citizens Advice are concerned that further loss of income could make the situation impossible for families whose breadwinners have lost their jobs. MoneyExpert said that debt consolidation loans were one possibility when it came to finding ways to “help minimise the effects of the benefit cuts”.

As debt consolidation loans make household finances simpler by wiping out some debts altogether and bringing the remaining ones together to create a single affordable monthly payment, they could help families on lower incomes. Another advantage is that the total amount of interest that is accruing on the debt would be lower.

Despite these advantages, unsecured personal loans for debt consolidation can be difficult to obtain if the borrower has a bad credit rating, so gaining a credit report beforehand can be useful, as can shopping around for the best deals. Many online lenders offer bad credit loans for specifically this kind of customer.

Researchers working for the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) said that there had been a sharp increase in the number of firms advertising payday loans, especially online. Every year, around 1.2 million people borrowed a total of £1.2 billion from such lenders, they added.

CCCS chairman Malcolm Hurlston said that such loans could often lead to debt problems, adding: “Not only are most people who use this type of credit less well-off, they often find it hard to access credit from the mainstream banking system.”

However, defenders of payday loans said that they were far preferable to incurring hefty overdraft fees or taking out long-term unsecured personal loans.

Consumer Finance Association chief executive John Lamidey told the Metro newspaper that “people want to borrow a smaller amount of money for their immediate needs and desires and pay it back quickly”.

“If this is not a product people really like, then why is there the growth?” he asked, stressing that: “We really don’t want to lend to people who can’t pay back and we don’t lend to people who aren’t in work.”

Mr Lamidey also said that reports highlighting the relatively high APR charged by payday loans lenders were misleading. This was due to the fact that most borrowers repay their loans almost immediately and only pay between £10-30 for every £100 that they borrow.