Scots can look forward to celebrating '˜debt-free birthday' at 58

Scots can expect to become debt-free by the age of 58, a report has found.

Picture: John Devlin

The average Briton, meanwhile, can expect to be clear of their debts – including mortgages – by the time they are 69.

The report was compiled by economics consultancy the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), which compared people’s expectations in a survey of more than 2,000 people with the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

People reaching adulthood now are likely to have an even longer wait to reach their “debt-free birthday”, the research, commissioned by peer-to-peer lender Zopa found.

Someone aged between 16 and 24 now could be aged 74 by the time they can celebrate becoming debt-free, the report found, as rising property prices lead to bigger mortgage debts.

Someone aged between 25 and 34 now could be 71 by the time they are free of home loans and other debts.

Regionally, there were large variations in when Cebr projects people with a mortgage will have cleared their home loans and other debts.

A home owner in the North East of England could become debt-free aged 57. But households in London will not celebrate their debt-free birthday until around 20 years later – at the age of 77.

The consumer research found that on average, people expect to be aged 50 by the time they have paid these debts off. But the report found actually people are more likely to be 64 when they have cleared these debts.