Under 25’s more likely to use credit to pay costs
A new report has highlighted the dangers of young people becoming reliant on credit cards in order to cover their housing costs.
The Debt Advisory Centre has reported that young adults in Britain are most likely to struggle with property costs and utility bills, therefore will turn to credit cards in order to try and settle payments.
Concern
According to the survey, nearly one-third of 18-24 year olds utilised credit to pay their housing costs in the last twelve months. This is in comparison to 16% of adults overall.[1]
What’s more, one-fifth of 18-24 year olds admitted to being at least one month in arrears with their rent or mortgage payments. Concern is growing following the Government’s announcement that automatic housing benefit is to be scrapped for 18-21 year olds.[1]
Alongside using credit to pay off their housing costs, nearly 25% of 18-24 year olds said that they had used a credit card or loan to pay off their most recent utility bill. A third of people in this age bracket were concerned about how they are going to pay their next costs.[1]
Under 25’s more likely to use credit to pay costs
Melanie Taylor, a spokeswoman for Debt Advisory Centre, said, ‘it is incredibly worrying to see such a high volume of young people struggling to make ends meet.’ She feels that, ‘financial independence is something that should be encouraged,’ but acknowledges,’ this is, ‘increasingly out of reach for many.’[1]
‘As a society, we must ensure that we are equipping young people to make sensible financial decisions and giving them the means to do so,’ Taylor added.[1]
[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/finance/under-25s-most-likely-to-rely-on-credit-to-cover-housing-costs.html