Frances Walker, from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) charity, wants to see a more sensible approach to credit from those lending money as well as those borrowing it There is a lot of credit card debt about. The average person who comes to the CCCS owes about £28,000 to 11 different creditors, excluding their mortgages. The most common reasons for being unable to repay debt are a change of circumstances, such as a divorce or separation, ill health, or over use of credit. There is certainly evidence that the mis-use of credit is increasing. There is a lot of over borrowing and over lending out there. We are keen to see more responsible borrowing as well as more responsible lending. There are some extraordinary cases of people owing £100,000 and taking home a relatively modest income of £1,500 a month. It is very hard to understand how creditors have leant them so much money but if you make the minimum payment each month then there wont be any bad debt on your credit record so you can continue to borrow more. One solution, which we would like to see, would be to share more data between different creditors but its a complex issue and can be difficult because of the Data Protection Act. Obviously, there are a lot of products available out there and its a very competitive market. Some people, known as credit tarts transfer balances every six months to a card offering an introductory rate of 0 percent interest because it costs them less money. But its not something we would recommend because you have to be very disciplined and work quite hard to make that method work, and creditors are planning to close those offers down because they are losing too much money. If you are concerned about your debts you should seek advice and contact your creditors. Obviously, the main thing with credit cards is to try and clear your balance, not just pay of the minimum amount every month. Figures show that the number of people opting for bankruptcy is up, especially among young people. But there are serious implications to being declared bankrupt it stays on your record for six years and in some circumstances can even affect your employability. What do you think? Click here to send us an email | 
