Holiday fraud victims ‘could be helped to avoid debt’

InsureandGo has found that holidaymakers could be given debt management problems by unauthorised use of their debit and credit cards, with 7.1 million people in the UK aware of someone who has been affected in this way.

The research carried out by the firm showed that 23 per cent of those affected by the card fraud had more than £1,000 stolen, money that could quite easily drive those holidaymakers into debt and leave them in need of debt advice.

InsureandGo has released a new Travel Card to combat such problems, with the company suggesting it is also easier to control spending than with a credit card.

“Credit cards these days have £2,000, £3,000, £5,000 limits. It’s so tempting to say: ‘Let’s just go out again tonight’. This [Travel Card] is just for budgeting,” Perry Wilson, director of InsureandGo, said.

“You put on what you can and you’ve budgeted your holiday. I can’t stop people getting into debt on their holiday… [but] this could help.”

InsureandGo was founded in 2000 and the travel insurance specialist has more than two million customers a year.