Credit Card spending keeping Brits from reality

30th June 2006

Paying by credit card is hiding Britons from the reality of spending, potentially saddling them with large debt, a financial guru has said.

Elen Thomas of National Savings and Investment (NS&I) claims that as customers only receive a statement rather than a bill, many fail to realise how much they are really spending.

"People are not associating money management with spending," claimed Ms Thomas. "There is a gap between perception and reality."

Credit card debt is adding to the soaring debt levels seen in the UK, with Datamonitor claiming that personal debt levels grew by 41 per cent between 2000 and 2004.

Ms Thomas labelled the attitude of people towards spending as "worrying", with NS&I claiming that two fifths of consumers overspent on debit cards as it did not seem like "real" spending.

In order to beat debt and stop people overspending, Ms Thomas urged credit card users to check their accounts weekly to ensure they have a grip on their finances.

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