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Almost one in ten relying on credit cards to live
Written by lister on 24 January, 2012Almost one in ten people are relying on credit card debt to make ends meet.
New research conducted by price comparison website Go Compare found that 26 per cent of Brits will be in debt with their plastic throughout this year and more worryingly nine per cent need their credit card just to pay for day to day expenses such as travel and food shopping.
Rising living costs are attributed as being the main reason for the hike in credit card reliance, with 22 per cent of people questioned saying that they have major concerns over the way in which bills seem to be constantly on the increase.
One in four people said that they are proactively looking for ways in which to save money each month, while 35 per cent said that they would like to get out of debt at some stage this year.
Of those which said that they are cutting back on daily expenses, 49 per cent said they are scaling back the money they spend on food, 31 per cent said petrol and transport costs and 28 per cent said utilities such as gas and electricity.
Some 15 per cent said that they could not foresee any way in which scale back at all.
Jeremy Cryer, Gocompare.com's head of credit cards said: "The rising cost of living is placing a strain on many families and credit cards are being used to temporarily ease the pain.
"Worryingly, our survey revealed that nearly a tenth of people in the UK rely on their credit cards to make ends meet. No wonder we owe a staggering £60 billion on credit cards as a nation.
"It is clear from our research that a huge number of people are already expecting 2012 to be a ‘year of debt' so it's important that they take action now, rather than allowing interest to add to their financial burden."
Go Compare's rival comparison site uSwitch said recently that credit card debt can last a lifetime if not managed correctly.