Monday 20th August, 2007 

How long will it take to pay off the average unsecured debt level of £11,000? According to financial website Fool.co.uk it will take a lot longer than we think.

Fool.co.uk's survey indicated that those who had a debt of £11,000 thought that it would take 3 years to clear that debt. However, Fool.co.uk's own calculations indicates that most people would only we able to afford around 13% of their income to wards the deb. The results revealed that it would take 66% of people - seven years and seven months to get out of debt. This is more than twice the initial period.

Fool.co.uk also indicated a more worrying statistic that one in 5 people with debts of more than £20k acknowledged they could not afford to make any repayments.

Fool's head of personal finance, David Kuo, voiced concerns that two out of 3 people are taking out debt without fully understanding the implications of it or how long it will take to pay off the debt.

For those of you who have concerns about how long it will take to pay off your debt or you are looking for advice about your debt level, visit our forum.