According the news report, the free debt advice service provided by the British government is struggling to meet and increased demand for its services. In the 12 months to July 2009, there was a rise of 28% in demand for the free debt advice services it offers at nationwide agencies. This led to one in four of the agencies being forced to turn away a number of people or have debt ridden consumers wait more than a month to see someone.

But how much does our personal debt crisis have to do with our own spending habits?

The answer is never. The current generations of adults had no compulsory money management or personal finance lessons when they were at school.

So we simply cannot dispute the relationship between the availability of credit and debt. However, credit in itself would almost certainly be much less of an issue were we able to manage our spending habits better. It's widely thought that our own lack of personal finance competency is to blame for much of the debt crisis.

When we really lay the facts out, it's not really a big surprise that our money management skills, as a nation, are so poor. Where and when do we get the chance to learn? While school equips us with reading, writing, Maths and Science skills, it doesn't teach us how to handle credit, budget, keep an eye on our bank accounts or save! In other words, we leave school at 18 with unblemished credit records (because we have previously never had credit) and are expected to learn as we go along. When you're learning 'on the job' with something as crucial as personal finance, things can go wrong. The Government has recently taken steps to eradicate this issue, however, with the announcement that money management classes will become compulsory as part of the National Curriculum, for children as young as five.

More recently, the Government has announced that money management lessons are to become a formal part of the National Curriculum, meaning that children as young as five years old will be learning the skills of money management at school. Perhaps this will means that twenty years from now we see a notable improvement in personal debt levels - we will see!