Officials have warned that consumers across the UK are getting themselves into an even worse situation when it comes to their debts, with many continuing to borrow from friends. Research into so called ‘friend debt’ was carried out by the Post Office, and officials from the Post Office said that the recession and lack of traditional finance had seen a surge in the number of people borrowing from friends.

The results of the study showed that shockingly consumers had borrowed more than £7 billion from their friends in order to tide them over when they were short of money. The study looked at borrowing and lending trends between adults, and more than a quarter of those that were polled as part of the survey said that they had given cash to an average of four friends in the past twelve months, and had agreed to have the money back at a later date.

The average amount that was lent for each loan worked out to £133 according to the survey results. However, whilst the money was handed out in good faith as a loan the research also showed that less than half of the money that was handed out had been repaid leaving an outstanding balance of just under £3 billion between friends.

The results also showed that around 18 percent of people were lending more money than they could really afford to, leaving themselves in financial trouble to help friends out. In some cases the recipient of the loan was repaying friends by other means such as with alcohol rather than repaying the cash.

Doug Strachan, director of financial services at the organisation, said: “The Post Office is urging people to make sure they don’t put themselves, or their household, into financial difficulty when helping others.”