If a new study conducted by the insurer Axa is to be believed then 40 percent of Britons would lie about their debt problems instead of telling the truth regarding their financial conditions. Approximately 24% of people surveyed forwarded that they were lying about debt built up from overdrafts, credit cards, store cards or loans from their family, friends and even partners.

A sum of £4,096 of hidden debt is owed by the average person and as per the Axa report, there was nearly £50 billion of hidden debt in the UK.

The report says that there are nearly quarters of adults in the UK, who are lying to their loved ones regarding their debt and the age group of 19-30 is the one, which is most likely to lie about debts and have the most hidden debt. The age groups of 46-50 and 46-50 are the ones with highest levels of debts.  

“A third of people said they would like about debt problems because they were embarrassed about it, while 23 percent were worried about their loved ones reactions. 14 percent of people admitted that they didn’t realize how much debt they were in and one in five people hide their debt because it had spiraled out of control,” said the report.  

Astonishingly, the study revealed that women lied less regarding their debt problems, though on average women are hiding much higher amounts. While men hid about how much they have spent on drinking, women lied most about shopping.

“Lying about finances is the third most lied about thing in the UK, coming behind the number of previous sexual partners and the amount spent on a shopping item,” concluded the report.