2 September 2008
Despite claiming to be budgeting more tightly, British consumers are still relying on credit cards to meet monthly outgoings, new research shows. According to a survey PayPal, almost four in five Britons now set a budget to help them manage their money each month. However, it reveals that 15.9 million regularly exceed this by an average of £123 and 20% use credit cards to bail them out at least once a quarter. PayPal suggests this is because just 29% of people include all their expenditure in their budgets, with many leaving out spending on extras such as clothes and socialising. Carl Scheilbe, Managing Director of PayPal UK, said: "It's concerning that so many people claim to keep to their budget, yet still rely on credit cards or savings for basic living costs." Recent research by uSwitch.com revealed that gross credit card lending in the UK has increased by an average of £179 million per quarter over the last year.