Credit holding figures for Scotland, from the Financial Conduct Authority.
83%
Adults holding any credit
In 2024, 83 per cent of adults in Scotland held at least one credit or loan product (now or in the previous 12 months).
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Annex A (Product holdings), Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base all UK adults; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024; Includes regulated and unregulated credit; unweighted base 1640
63%
Adults holding a credit card
In 2024, 63 per cent of adults in Scotland held a credit card (now or in the previous 12 months).
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Annex A (Product holdings), Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base all UK adults; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024; unweighted base 1640
21%
Adults overdrawn
In 2024, 21 per cent of adults in Scotland were overdrawn on a current account (now or in the previous 12 months).
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Annex A (Product holdings), Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base all UK adults; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024; unweighted base 1640
26%
Adults with a residential mortgage
In 2024, 26 per cent of adults in Scotland had a residential mortgage on the property they lived in.
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Annex A (Product holdings), Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base all UK adults; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024; unweighted base 1640
20%
Deferred payment credit use
In 2024, 20 per cent of adults in Scotland used deferred payment credit (unregulated buy now, pay later) in the previous 12 months.
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Annex A (Product holdings), Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base all UK adults; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024; Deferred payment credit is the survey term for unregulated buy now, pay later; not measured in 2017 or 2020; unweighted base 1640
6.2%
Adults with high-cost credit
In 2024, 6.2 per cent of adults in Scotland held high-cost credit (now or in the previous 12 months).
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Annex A (Product holdings), Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base all UK adults; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024; Home-collected, logbook, pawnbroking, payday, rent-to-own, short-term instalment and guarantor loans; 2024 definition applied to earlier waves (Annex A footnote 7); unweighted base 1640
23%
Low financial resilience
In 2024, 23 per cent of adults in Scotland had low financial resilience.
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Vulnerability & financial resilience, underlying data for charts, Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base all UK adults, rounded to whole per cent by the publisher; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024; Low financial resilience: in financial difficulty, heavily burdened by bills or credit commitments, or low savings
8%
Adults in financial difficulty
In 2024, 8 per cent of adults in Scotland were in financial difficulty, having missed domestic bills or credit commitments in three or more of the previous six months.
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Vulnerability & financial resilience, underlying data for charts, Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base all UK adults, rounded to whole per cent by the publisher; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024
12%
Heavily burdened by bills
In 2024, 12 per cent of adults in Scotland said keeping up with domestic bills and credit commitments was a heavy burden.
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Vulnerability & financial resilience, underlying data for charts, Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base all UK adults, rounded to whole per cent by the publisher; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024; Excludes don't know responses
13%
Mortgage debt four times income
In 2024, 13 per cent of adults in Scotland with a residential or lifetime mortgage had mortgage debt of at least four times their annual household income.
Source: Financial Lives 2024 survey: Mortgages (slide-based report), Financial Conduct Authority, 2024
Survey estimate, base UK adults with a residential or lifetime mortgage, excluding don't know and prefer not to say; fieldwork 5 February to 16 June 2024