May 12, 2006

By Peter Kenny

The Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne will today warn of the effect of a culture arising, which he will call  “credit card Britain”

George Osborne will be attending the Credit Today conference in London where he is expected to call for more solutions to be sought over the financial hardship that many Britons find themselves in today.

The lenient credit market we all find ourselves in today has been of great benefit for UK consumers, individual financial freedom has been one of the greatest factors that many individuals now enjoy, however, the downside is that many more less fortunate people have been sucked into a life of financial misery.

Mr Osborne will tell the conference today “First, for some, especially vulnerable, families, too much debt can cause misery and great financial hardship.
"And second, high levels of debt, both public and private, make the economy more vulnerable to certain types of shock, and may put macroeconomic stability at risk.
"For families, and for the wider economy, more debt means more vulnerability."

"Most of us use our all the time, and, even if we wish we didn't need to, can manage our mortgage payments. But that isn't the case for everyone,"

This year has seen a worrying rise in calls for help to debt help lines with charities like National Debtline, The Consumer Credit Counselling Service and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Recently many credit card companies and banks have been responding to higher levels of bad debt by reducing credit limits and being much more selective with credit card applications.