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Our response to the Bank of England credit card lending figures

31 May, 2017

In response to Bank of England figures released today that show credit card borrowing growing at its fastest rate since 2006, Mike O’Connor, Chief Executive of StepChange Debt Charity, said:

“There are 3.3 million people already in persistent credit card debt. With the nation’s credit card bill growing rapidly, we can expect many more people to find themselves struggling in the future.

“Credit cards are designed to be a short-term product, but for many people they have become an expensive, long-term form of borrowing.

“As lending continues to grow strongly two things must be addressed. What can be done to help borrowers who fall into persistent credit card debt? And, critically, what are the product features of credit cards that need to change to stop them trapping so many people in unaffordable, long-term and persistent debt? It is not clear that the Financial Conduct Authority’s current proposals sufficiently answer these questions”.

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