Approximately 40% of Australians will rely on credit cards to pay essential bills this quarter. Debt collection agency Prushka said many householders had overspent in the lead-up to Christmas. There has been a 25% lift in the amount of work going to debt collectors.
Reserve Bank figures show consumers spent more than $20 billion on credit and charge cards in November 2009, pushing the average credit card account balance to $3196. According to a Dun & Bradstreet survey, 56 per cent of 18 – 35 year olds expected to use credit cards to pay some of their bills, up 11 per cent on the previous quarterly survey, while nearly half of all families with children thought they'd be paying bills with credit cards - up 8%.
