Brits 'should not rely on credit cards'

Thursday, March 4th 2010

British consumers should stop relying on credit cards and look towards saving money instead.

This is the advice of chief executive at the Association of British Credit Unions Limited Mark Lyonette.

He explained that debt often ensues from using credit cards and dubbed them "not a good product generally".

Mr Lyonette added that the cards are convenient and are good for lenders while the customer is making repayments.

Speaking at Liverpool's Northern Money Conference 2010, he explained that consumers could feel like they may "explode" once they are on their tenth card and still making minimum repayments.

"There are some shocking things that are going on" in this industry, Mr Lyonette continued.

His comments follow the Scottish Widows Savings and Investments report that 47 per cent of parents with adult children had given or loaned them money.

For 38 per cent of people, these funds were used to pay off debt.