Credit card debt ‘to affect one in four’ all year

A quarter of consumers will be holding credit card debt throughout 2012, according to a new survey.

The GoCompare.com research found 26 per cent of Britons will be reliant on plastic for the whole of this year and nine per cent have admitted they have to use cards to make ends meet.

It found a wide range of financial concerns are leading to hard-pressed consumers maintaining their debt, with the rising cost of living and bills being listed as the most worrying by 22 per cent.

A quarter of people want to find ways to reduce their outgoings and 35 per cent wish to either get out of debt altogether, or at least reduce what they owe on loans and credit cards.

Head of credit cards at the price comparison site Jeremy Cryer remarked: "If used carefully, plastic cards can be a useful budgeting tool, but when used to plug a gap in everyday spending, card debt can quickly spiral out of control."

Commenting on the "worrying" news that nearly a tenth of people rely on their cards to get by, he added: "No wonder we owe a staggering £60 billion on credit cards as a nation".

Those who are in debt that has become too deep to pay may wish to consider a debt management plan to spread out repayments more.

One way in which people are worse off because of rising bills is in the area of energy prices.

A study by uSwitch calculated last week that Britons are still collectively £1.9 billion a year worse off after the large energy price hikes last year, which were far larger than the reductions made by major suppliers earlier this month.

Posted by Paul Thacker