Britons ‘ignoring credit card debt worries’ when booking holidays

The dangers of credit card debt are being ignored by Britons when it comes to booking their holidays overseas, it appears.

A study by foreign exchange firm Travelex found 26 per cent of UK consumers will spend money on their cards this way, despite a report by Which? showing half of Britons believe they will be at least £25 worse off each week.

This is not stopping £5 billion – or £400 each on average – being added to card bills through holiday bookings, with the most popular destinations being Spain, Portugal and Turkey.

And this is ten per cent more than the number of Britons who spent on holidays using their plastic last year, Travelex revealed.

It noted an example of the sort of consumers who were prepared to ignore the potential problems that can pile up from increased debt when money is generally tighter is provided by Ray Osborne, a Maidstone-based surveyor.

He said: “I’m definitely more out of pocket than this time last year, just to keep the car on the road is costing me £10 a month more in petrol. But I’m determined to go away this year so I’ve just stuck it on the credit card and I’ll worry about it later.”

The news contrasts with comments made recently by managing director of Global Prepaid Exchange Kevin Harrington.

He said people are tending to use credit cards a little less than before with pre-paid cards being an alternative more consumers are turning to as they seek to keep their spending under control.

By Joe White