Poorest households led pre-crisis debt splurge - Telegraph.co.uk

The report added: "This evidence does suggest that it is possible that the increasing demand and supply of credit to low income households may have... increased both the risks and the consequences of crisis."

Jonathan Portes, director of NIESR, said: "This research suggests that there may well have been a connection between the rise in income inequality in the years preceding the crisis and the rise in household borrowing, particularly for those on lower incomes.