More than six million people have taken on more debt in the past three years in a bid to get their borrowing under control, new research shows.

According to price comparison website MoneyExpert.com, around one in seven adults have turned to debt consolidation to ease their financial problems with unsecured personal loans the most popular choice.

The research provides more evidence of the UK’s personal debt crisis as borrowers struggle to get a grip on their finances. And, as interest rates rise, experts predict borrowers will feel the pinch even more.

“Debt consolidation is entirely sensible and a good way to get your finances under control if you owe money to different lenders at varying rates of interest. Theoretically you can reduce your monthly repayments and make your debts manageable,” says Sean Gardner, Chief Executive of MoneyExpert.com.

“However it only works if you accept consolidation is a wake-up call to get your borrowing under control and then work to become debt-free. There has to be some concern that many people simply see consolidation as a way of keeping on borrowing.”

The amounts being borrowed to clear previous debts are not trivial – the average consolidation loan is £13,000, the independent financial comparison website says. Around six per cent of those who have consolidated debts in the past three years have borrowed more than £50,000 – around 360,000 people.

Monthly repayments on a £13,000 personal loan over three years at the lowest unsecured personal loan rate of around 5.9 per cent would be £393.99 a month. Anyone borrowing £50,000 would have to remortgage or take out a secured loan.

And while unsecured personal loans are the most popular choice for consolidating debts many people are piling the extra debt on their mortgages or taking out secured loans against their property with the risk that if they default they could lose their homes.

With UK consumer debt continuing to be of considerable concern to economists, especially in the face of interest rate rises, Birmingham Midshire announced last week that a buoyant winter for retailers has also meant that 12 per cent of savers have raided their savings accounts to pay for luxuries, gifts and impulse purchases.

Overspending on current accounts, the bank claim, also left nine per cent of savings accounts worse for wear, whilst emergency home and car repairs were responsible for a further eight per cent of people plundering their accounts.

The seasonal increase in bills also hit savers hard, with a staggering one in ten having to draw on their nest eggs to cope with higher-than-expected bills including utility statements and home maintenance costs following the winter weather. Men in particular bore the brunt of bills, with 11 per cent being caught unaware over the winter months.