We’re addicted to debt and headed for a crash. It could be worse than 2007 | Zoe Williams

Ten years ago the culprit was sub-prime mortgages. Personal credit is out of control in Britain now. We seem to have learned absolutely nothing

When Provident Financial lost 1.7bn in share value a little over a week ago, a handful of people asked whether this was a Northern Rock moment. The Provident extends high-interest loans to low-income people, and as such could be seen as a bellwether in the manner of a sub-prime mortgage company, the first to go under when debt becomes unbearable, the signal that credit is, once again, about to crunch.

Related: Doorstep lender Morses swipes customers from troubled rival Provident

There is something obscurely insulting about being warned about household debt by the Bank of England

Related: Drive carefully - I can see a credit car crash up ahead | Phillip Inman

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