Credit card addicts urged to seek help

Posted 2008-03-3

People who are overly dependent on using their credit cards should seek the help of a debt specialist, Credit Action has advised. The debt charity noted that the current financial crisis leaves consumers particularly at risk of financial ruin and said people who develop a reliance on paying with plastic need to face up to their demons. While the problem will snowball most dramatically for spendaholics who insist they are powerless to reign in expenditure, Credit Action director Chris Tapp noted that dependence on credit cards can also take a more subversive form. Recent research by housing charity Shelter found that over a million households currently make mortgage or rent repayments with their credit card - something that Mr Tapp described as an unsustainable solution. "If you are using your credit card to pay your mortgage, its a worrying indicator because you cant do that forever," he commented. Credit Actions advice for people who are worried about their credit card outgoings is to prioritise crucial spending such as mortgage payments - and then to contact a debt charity if left-over disposable funds are insufficient.

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