It certainly looks that way. According to the firm of accountants, KPMG, the number of people taking personal insolvency routes such as bankruptcy, IVAs and structured debt management plans to sort out their debts in 2009 could hit record levels. In 2008 estimates show that consumers facing insolvency procedures numbered just under 105,000. According to KPMG's figure this could rise to 150,000 in 2009.

So, why are so many of us faced with having to take such extreme measures to sort out our debts? At the end of the day it's not just about the effects that the recession could have on our lives. It's also all about how we've managed our money over the last few years.

We've simply got into the habit of borrowing money to pay for the stuff we want to do and the things we want to buy. Rather than save for holidays, to buy a new car or to pay for a state-of-the-art entertainment system we've used credit cards and loans as an alternative. The problem is a lot of people didn't really think about the fact that they might be borrowing heavily here -- after all it was very easy to get credit even a few short months ago.

Now, however, our lines of credit are not so open and it can be hard to raise a new loan, get a new credit card or raise the limit on an existing one. But, we still have a lot of debts to service and these debts won't go away on their own. Some debts, like credit card debt for example, will even grow on its own without any further spending. Interest will still be added to your overall debt no matter what.

Having got into the habit of borrowing to service our lifestyles and our debts a lot of us are now finding it really hard to manage. With no current access to credit and no way of repaying all that we owe it's little surprise that so many people are having to look at taking solutions such as IVA, bankruptcy and debt management programs. And, numbers here will increase regularly as more jobs are lost over the course of the year.

The fact is that a lot of UK consumers have run up so many debts that the only way that they can effectively deal with them now when money is tight is to take drastic action. Going down the IVA or bankruptcy route can be helpful in some cases here as this allows you to pay back what you can and then have the rest of your debts written off legally.

These routes do come with consequences though that could, at the very least, see your credit history impaired for a good few years. So, before you think about becoming one of these statistics take some debt advice to see what your options are. It may well be that there are other routes that you can take to eradicate your debts in a less extreme fashion.