Credit Card Habits

16th May 2007

The British love affair with credit cards shows no signs of slowing down, with the average amount spent on plastic being £3,450 a year, nearly 15% of the average working wage, according to new research.

Credit cards are now increasingly being used to book holidays, pay bills, maintain and service vehicles, buy groceries and pay for nights out. Everyday items like petrol and food are also increasingly being bought on our credit cards.

Some people say that they take on credit cards as fashion accessories with the shiny metallic look a must have, with a quarter of us going for gold credit cards, according to life assistance firm CPP. Others are just content with a wallet full of impressive status symbols, 14 per cent signing up for credit cards, simply to pad out their wallets.

Four in ten people from Chelmsford in Essex say they are impressed with a wallet full of plastic cards whilst in Coventry 11 per cent admit to owning 10 credit cards or more. Some hardcore deal chasers change their credit cards frequently and will get through a mind boggling 59 credit cards in their working lives.