According to the Insolvency Service, the rate at which people are declaring themselves bankrupt or insolvent in the three months to the end of June 2009 is 27.
4% up on the same period last year.
This represents 33,073 people, the highest figure ever recorded.
But, the bad news does not end there, since unemployment is still rising and more and more people are struggling to pay their bills, this rate is expected to rise higher throughout the year.
Currently these figure represent 367 people becoming bankrupt or insolvent every day, but this figure is predicted to rise to 423 people per day as an average for the whole of 2009 - so the worst is yet to come.
Apart from personal bankruptcies and insolvencies the number of business collapses for the same period were up 39.
1% to 5,055, which will continue to have a knock on effect on those people that have lost their jobs as a result.
This combination of rising unemployment, rising business failures and increased levels of people being unable to pay their bills means that the economy could very easily slip into free fall.
Although the government has been pumping billions of pounds into the economy, the slide has not been halted, and the amount of money the government can borrow has been "maxed out".
This means that the government credit card - you, me and every other tax payer - ain't good for the loans.
So personal debt is beyond the level sustainable by the economy and government debt is beyond the level sustainable by the economy.
What does this mean for you? If you have personal debt, get rid of it.
Don't wait, don't think about getting rid of it in the future and use ANY means available to you.
Really it does not matter how you do it - destroy your debt before it destroys you.