Brits 'still using credit'

By Sarah Engle, Thu 14 Jan 2010 - Published in Credit Cards

People still seem to be borrowing more than they can afford to repay, an expert has claimed.

Chris Tapp, director of national money education charity Credit Action, said he hopes people will be more cautious when getting into debt, but he has little evidence confirming that this is happening.

"We are still an economy that is reliant on credit and we are still a society that loves to use credit," he commented.

The expert added that he would not be surprised if credit card balances start to creep up in the coming months, as some people are ignoring the recent financial turmoil and continuing to use them.

Mr Tapp also said that lenders should apply stricter criteria to who they issue credit, loans or mortgages to and predicted that the future will see the emergence of a "slightly more moderated market".

Recent figures from the Bank of England showed that the average interest rate applied to credit cards increased from 15.89 per cent at the end of November last year to 16.26 per cent in December.

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