Are We Underestimating What We Spend On Credit
Cards?
By Peter Kenny
creditcardsgb[at]yahoo.co.uk
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An investigation organized by Egg says consumers have greatly underestimated
the amount that credit cards are used throughout the United Kingdom,
what this means is consumers are spending a lot more than they think.
The investigation revealed that when consumers thought they had
spent was £236 billion was in fact £437 billion, some
difference!
How come there is such a big difference?
Well most of us usually pay for everything with the plastic card
and find it hard to keep track of what we spend.
Most people have more than one credit card and a lot of them transfer
their balances from time to time to get the best interest rate,
so when you are working with two or more credit cards it's easy
to miscalculate how much you're spending, and with so many different
payment options for you to choose from you can see how there can
be such a difference in what we spend, over £200 billion!
scary or what?
Another question you have to ask is, if we do not know what is
in our accounts how do we know we are not getting ripped off?
Six out of ten consumers didn't know how much was in their accounts
so money could be taken out and they would have no idea. Mind you
some would say (not me you understand) if you don't keep track of
your money you deserve to have it pinched.
The British Bankers Association revealed that by the end of September,
credit card sales had fallen for the last two months indicating
that consumers are being careful, but with Christmas around the
corner I am sure the credit card sales will be up and we will have
another bumper spending spree with the plastic cards.
So the question was, are we underestimating what we are spending?
well the facts definitely say yes!
So what should we do about it well keep a tighter grip on your
accounts, double check what's coming in and out and make sure everything
balances at the end of the month.
good luck!
Peter Kenny is a writer for creditcards-gb.co.uk.
For additional articles and an extensive resource for everything
about credit cards and loans, please visit us at http://www.creditcards-gb.co.uk
and http://www.moneywize.co.uk
Some important contacts:
http://www.bba.org.uk
http://www.cccs.co.uk
Published - November 2005
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