Household debt 'dangerous' to all, warns BoE official

'Spiral of complacency'

Household debt poses a danger to everyone in the UK economy, Bank of England (BoE) executive director of financial stability Alex Brazier has warned.

In a speech to the University of Liverpool's Institute for Risk and Uncertainty on Monday, Brazier, who is also a member of the BoE's Financial Policy Committee, highlighted recent developments in household debt, the dangers it poses to the wider economy and three "lines of defence" put in place by regulators to guard against those dangers. High levels of mortgage debt can make downturns deeper by causing consumers aggressively to cut back spending to service their mortgages, he argued, while high levels of consumer debt - like credit card debt and personal loans - can make banks more vu...