Survey finds 28% expect difficulty meeting credit commitments

Tuesday 19th April 2011 1 Comment

A survey has found 28% of people are expecting difficulties meeting credit commitments in the June quarter.

The Dun & Bradstreet Consumer Credit Expectations Survey also found 19% of people expected to have a higher level of household debt by the end of June while 23 expected to have lower levels.

According to the online survey of 1000 people aged 18 to 64, 34% of people expected to use credit cards to pay for otherwise unaffordable expenses.

That number jumped to 56% of people living in Christchurch, although only 14% of the city's residents expected to have difficulties meeting upcoming commitments.

Dun & Bradstreet general manager John Scott said the results pointed to the financial pressure many households were experiencing as a result of debt levels remaining at historic highs.

The survey showed many people were using credit in ways that may eventually harm them, with interest rate rises later in the year a possible trigger that would cause distress for many households, Scott said.

Of those taking part in the survey, 14% expected an interest rate rise would have a major negative impact.

NZPA

Comments from our readers

On 20 April 2011 at 8:27 am Jo said:

And this is not helped by the amount of interest and how it's charged on credit cards.