Recent statistics about the number of bankruptcies in the UK have been described as "understated".

A few days ago the Insolvency Service announced that there were 15,389 bankruptcies in England and Wales in the first quarter of 2006 — an increase of 12.5% on the previous quarter and a rise of 51.2% over the same period last year.
Not surprisingly, the credit industry is rather worried. A survey conducted for Credit […]

After Bank Governor warns of ticking social timebomb, experts attack cultural change, say Edmund Conway and Rosie Murray-West
There are few economic experts out there who hold as much sway as the Bank of England Governor.
So when Mervyn King warned on Wednesday that spiralling levels of personal debt are now "a potentially large social problem", households […]