By Charlotte Beugge

Britain is becoming a nation of debtors with the average family adding to its debts over the last year - even though interest rates are low.

According to the Aviva Family Finances report, the typical family debt - excluding mortgages - has increased by 48% from £5,360 a year ago to £7,944 now. This means that the average UK family is using 32% of its typical annual net income to repay unsecured debts.

The figures show that Brits are adding to their existing debts rather than using the current low interest rate environment to repay them. And credit card debt makes up the majority of the unsecured debt burden, accounting typically for £2,314 of the amount owed.

And it's not as if Britons are saving instead - the typical amount saved each month is just £22, down from £21 a year ago. More than four in ten families aren't saving at all, although there was a small fall in the number of families with no savings at all.

While saving when you have debts makes little sense – you'll find it hard to earn more interest on your savings than you'd pay on servicing your debts - using current low credit card deals to pay off what you owe is a good idea.

Currently there are many 0% balance transfer deals on credit cards - including Barclaycard's 24-month deal.

Even though you will have to pay a balance transfer fee (in the case of Barclaycard it is 3.2%) using one of these deals is a good way to reduce your debt cheaply as long as you do reduce or eliminate your debt over the 0% period.

In addition, if you've a damaged credit record you may not get one of these deals.