A recent survey was carried out the results of which showed that many Brits were regretting not paying off more of their debt last year. According to the survey, which was carried out by Internet banking giant First Direct, which is part of the HSBC group, around 53 percent of those polled as part of the survey said that their biggest financial regret of 2010 was not paying off more of their debt earlier.

The survey involved polling around one thousand adults in the UK, and 82 percent of them said that the area of their finances that they were most concerned and unhappy about last year was their loans and credit cards. There are fears that whilst debt has become a major problem for many people over the past couple of years the situation could get worse as a result of government cutbacks and further job losses, which are due to take place this year.

Many people may have made New Year’s resolutions this year to get their debts sorted out, and for those people it is important to take action as soon as possible rather than putting things off again as they may have done last year. Consumers can look at consolidation of their various debts with a low cost consolidation loan, particularly given that loans of £7500-£15000 are said to have come down in terms of interest rates as a price war breaks out amongst lenders.

One official said: “The New Year is the ideal time to reflect on your financial habits and change these for the better. The earlier people start to plan their finances and look to the future, the easier they will find their long term financial position.”