That Britain is slipping into a personal debt crisis has been well documented for a number of years now. The UK's burgeoning levels of personal debt have, for a long time, far outweighed that of our European neighbours.  Indeed, figures released last year revealed that the average consumer in this county is £3,008 in debt compared to an average figure of £1,558 across the rest of Western Europe. Alarmingly the UK is now responsible for a third of all unsecured debt in Western Europe. 

It's a precarious state of affairs borne out by the current figures for personal debt in the UK: The total figure for personal debt in Britain in June 2007 was £1,355bn with the growth rate increasing to 10.1% for the previous 12 months; it would appear that this is not an issue that shows any sign of slowing down. Including mortgages the average household debt for the UK is £56,000, excluding mortgages the figure is £8,856 and if based on households with some form of unsecured loan the average figure is £20,600. Every four minutes this country's personal debt is rising by a million pounds.

Don't despair though, on an individual level bad debt is not inevitable and with a slightly more money savvy, disciplined approach to managing your finances you should be able to keep things under control. Here are some basic suggestions to help you avoid debts getting out of hand.

If you haven't got the money don't spend it

Maybe this is a fairly obvious sounding suggestion but stick to it and can't really go wrong. Most debt problems are a product of relying too much on a buy now pay later attitude.

Be disciplined with debt repayments

The quickest way of accumulating debt is by paying it off too slowly. This is particularly the case with credit cards - in an ideal world you would pay off your cards in full every month, keep in mind that the quicker you deal with debts the less likely they are to spiral out of control.  It may seem like an easy option but just setting up a minimum monthly payment on your credit cards is a far from effective means of clearing your debts. You should keep in mind that minimum payments are calculated by banks to keep customers in debt for as long as possible. By simply deciding on a fixed payment just above the initial minimum payment and sticking to it you'll quickly make a far bigger dent in your debts.

Transfer your balance

The first thing to consider if you feel like your credit card debt is getting out of hand is to transfer the balance to a card with a 0% introductory rate. There are loads out there, just look for the longest 0% balance transfer period. Currently the market leading 0% cards are probably offered by Natwest credit cards and RBS credit cards who both offer 0% for 13 months although you can keep up to date with these things by consulting a comparison site like fool.co.uk's credit cards centre. The key to making this strategy work is by not making any purchases on your new card, if a card offers genuinely good balance transfer rates then the chances are it won't offer a similarly attractive purchase rate.

Never, ever, take out a store card

These are generally sold by tempting shoppers with short term store discounts, don't fall for it!  Whatever the discount the store offers you on the day, remember, it won't be as a gesture of goodwill. Nearly all store cards carry a vastly inflated rate of interest and they rely on you paying off the balance in full straight away.

Make sure you can afford your loan

Before taking the plunge and getting a loan give consideration to whether you can comfortably afford the monthly repayments - be realistic and don't overstretch your finances. As long as you budget carefully and don't borrow more than you can comfortably afford to pay back then there no reason not to consider an unsecured loan. In fact with rates historically low at the moment now could be a good time to borrow. Currently there are a few lenders offering loans at 6.5% or cheaper, two of the best on the market at the moment are A&L personal loans at 6.5% and the Moneyback Bank loan at 6.3%.  You would be well advised however to first check a loans calculator (most lenders have one on their website - there's one on the A&L Loans site for instance) this should give you a good idea of what you'd be paying every month. It's also worth visiting one of the many Loans comparison sites like Beatthatquote.com to make sure you're opting for a competitive deal.

Do you really need it?

As Christmas approaches, it´s easy to spend a little extra on clothes, food and drink and presents. Make a list of what you need and stick to it; you're likely to save yourself more money this way than if you went out impulse shopping. It's good to be impulsive in life but extending that philosophy to your spending is a sure fire way to wind up with crippling debts. Try to get out of the 'buy now pay later' mentality.