Between now and 2010, the number of couples declaring insolvency could triple, according to new research.
A report by the Manchester Business School for accountancy firm Haines Watts IVA reveals that approximately 13,000 couples in England and Wales applied for insolvency in 2006.
And it goes on to suggest that this number - which is already a 165 per cent rise on 2004 figures - could rise to 50,000 in the next three years.
Dr Sydney Howell of Manchester Business School, commented: "Some of these couples, especially those in their early 30s, are facing a future with no pension, no savings and huge debts.
"Rising house prices and interest rates, ever-increasing living costs and wages that have not kept up with inflation have all produced crippling debts and left more and more people turning either to bankruptcy or insolvency as their only way out."
A recent study from Mintel suggested that Britons are in denial about the true amount their debt problems, believing they owe about what half of what they actually do.
