Lack of balance transfer deals ‘adding to debt woes’

The lack of free balance transfer offers available to credit card users in the UK is having a knock-on effect on the overall debt management efforts of many struggling consumers, according to one expert.

Beccy Boden-Wilks from National Debtline has suggested that British consumers are finding it more difficult to clear their credit card debt and as a result are seeing their finances squeezed more generally.

Ultimately, these issues are leading some people to miss their mortgage repayment deadlines and to borrow money at higher rates of interest than they have been used to, according to Ms Boden-Wilks.

“One of the major effects of the credit crunch is that people can’t manage their large amount of debt as cheaply as they could before; this is having a knock-on effect,” she explained.

A report from Sainsbury’s Finance recently suggested that there will be close to £1.1 billion worth of credit card debt transferred from one deal to another over the course of this year.