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Britons `put debts on to plastic`

06/07/2007

Britons` love affair with the "buy now, pay later" ease of credit cards has increased over the past decade, according to a new study.

People in Britain put £126 billion on their credit cards in 2006, a report from UK payments association Apacs reveals.

This number represents more than a two-fold increase on the £50 billion which was put on credit cards in 1996, the data indicates.

The findings come after the Bank of England`s monetary policy committee decided to raise the base interest rate to 5.75 per cent - a move which could affect consumers with high levels of credit card debt.

It also follows recent figures from Experian which stated that 80 per cent of UK adults regularly overspend, while one in ten have missed payments on their credit cards.

Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs, said that spending on both credit and debit cards is unlikely to ease.

"Over the next ten years it is expected that spending on plastic cards will continue to dominate the payments arena, accounting for 89 per cent of growth in UK payment volumes by 2016," she remarked.

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