Charity Credit Action found that the average household debt, including mortgages, was £54,015. This was a jump from the £53,991 recorded in March. At the same time other types of debt fell, meaning mortgages now occupy a greater proportion of total household debt.

The charity said that rising mortgage debt was a sign that government schemes such as Funding for Lending were allowing more people to access finance.

Across all types of personal debt, £165m of interest was paid every day during the month. During the first quarter a property was repossessed every 16 minutes.

Michelle Highman, chief executive of Credit Action, said: “Average debt including mortgages showed an increase, which no doubt reflected the positive impact that schemes such as Funding for Lending and the imminent Help to Buy programme are having on confidence in the housing market.

“Unsecured debt levels have remained consistent; something that’s been on-going for the past few months. While this trend could be seen as encouraging, in that people’s debt burden isn’t increasing, it may also suggest that some are struggling to pay down their debts, leading to a static picture overall.”

The UK debt statistics:

£54,015: average household debt (including mortgages) in April, up from £53,991 in March.

£5,971: average household debt (excluding mortgages) in April, down from £5,972 in March

£165 million of interest was paid every day on personal debt in April

£1.355 billion: daily value of all plastic card purchases in March

1,534 people were made redundant every day between January and March

902,000 people had been unemployed for over a year between January and March

Every 5 minutes 15 seconds someone was declared bankrupt or insolvent during Q1 2013

Every 16 minutes 26 seconds a property was repossessed during Q1 2013

It cost £66.70 to fill a 50-litre tank with unleaded petrol in May

The Government borrowed an estimated £2,431 every second during April

Every Day in the UK

• 274 people are declared insolvent or bankrupt every day (based on Q1 2013 trends). This is equivalent to one person every 5 minutes 15 seconds.

• 1,373 Consumer County Court Judgements (CCJs) are issued every day (based on Q1 2013 trends). The average value of a Consumer CCJ in Q1 2013 was £2,442.

• Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales dealt with 8,192 new debt problems every working day during the year ending December 2012.

• It costs an average of £29.02 per day to raise a child from birth to the age of 21.

• 88 properties are repossessed every day (based on Q1 2013 trends).
58 new people a day became unemployed for over 12 months during the year ending March 2013.