Its clear we are have a strong relationship with the fantastic plastic; over 3 million of us have 5 or more credit cards.
In addition, there are now more credit cards (73 million) than there are people (60 million) in the UK. And we owe, a total of £54.9 billion on them…
So, our relationship could either be called a love affair or an obsession, depending on your viewpoint!
Either way, getting a credit card in recent months has proven more difficult as credit card providers tighten their lending criteria.
Well, that is what we have been told, but new evidence suggests that it is in fact much easier than you think.
This is because nearly 5 million of you have been granted credit cards in the past year without having to prove your income.
And even worse, quite a few of you blatantly lied to get your credit card!
According to a YouGov poll commissioned by price comparison website uSwitch.com, 84% of you who successfully applied for a credit card (that’s 4.8 million of you) were not asked to provide any proof of your income, such as payslips, to support the figures stated in your applications in the past 12 months.
In addition, 14% of you weren’t even asked about your salary or outgoings during your application process. Yet despite this you managed to obtain average credit of £3,545.
Only 8% of you were asked for proof of income or outgoings when taking out credit.
More worryingly, 5% of you confessed to lying about your salary when applying for a credit card. Some of you added up to 70% onto your actual income and this led you to secure over £693 million worth of credit as a result.
If you are one of those people, then not only should you hang your head in shame but you had better hope your mother doesn’t find out!
- Desperation leads to more debt
Simeon Linstead, head of personal finance at uSwitch, said:
"We cannot ignore the fact that consumers have a responsibility to borrow sensibly, but lenders need to help the process and tighten their credit checking procedures."
"(But) the fact remains that just because a consumer appears to have a 'suitable' credit score, it doesn't mean they are always honest about their income and actually have the cash available each month to pay the bill.
"The credit squeeze will back some consumers into a corner and, in sheer desperation, people will resort to lying about their salaries as this is such an easy loophole to exploit."
- New Banking Code should help
Changes to the banking code were also brought about in March this year and makes it necessary for lenders to check with credit reference agencies such as Experian and to ask customers for one of the following: details on income and financial commitments, financial track record, or credit assessment techniques such as credit scoring or internal credit scoring techniques.
However, it remains to be seen whether these changes will have any significant impact on your applications.
A spokeswoman for the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) said it was becoming more difficult for people to borrow beyond their means, but added: "In the past people have felt that, if a bank was willing to lend them that amount of money, it was safe to borrow it."
So, just because banks take short cuts in the application process, should you take up a credit card (especially if you lie to get it) knowing you haven’t been checked out properly?
And whose responsibility is it, if you get into even more debt that you can’t hope to repay? You or the bank?
Why not let us know your thoughts in the comments?
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