Credit card holders face “crippling” debts
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The cost of paying on plastic has gone up by more than a quarter in just four
years, new figures show. Almost seven million card holders saw their rates
increas over the last year.
The average rate of interest has now climbed to 18.8 per cent, the highest
since 1998, with some card holders being forced to pay as much as 46 per
cent in interest.
Experts said the figures, uncovered by personal finance researchers
Moneyfacts, reflect the growing squeeze on struggling households by
Britain’s credit card operators and banks, who have also increased the
profit margins on mortgages and lowered savings rates.
They accused lenders of “sticking the knife in” on households who are already
facing the most difficult financial circumstances in living memory.
The figures emerged as a separate report by price comparison website
showed how two out of five borrowers are relying on their credit cards to
buy even the most basic of everyday items, such as food and petrol.
Having three or more credit cards is now standard practice for one in five
Britons, with 17 per cent of credit card holders using their card at least
once a day. Those aged over 70 are likely to hold the most credit cards;
poor performing pensions is forcing many to work well into retirement.
In further evidence of the bleak financial situation of Britain’s households,
experts at Moneysupermarket also disclosed that millions can no longer be
bothered to save.
Historically low savings rates mean many are failing to earn any real return
on their money, once tax and inflation is taken into account.
As many as 26 per …
Read the original article at Telegraph
