Wave of Debt Switching Tides
According to recent research the mounting credit card debt of roughly £9 billion will transfer from one plastic product to another, in the New Year.
Abbey Credit Cards conducted a survey of over 1,000 adults and found that Britons are looking at the savings credit card transfers can give them on the interest they are paying. Nearly 3 million credit card users around Britain are expected to transfer an average of £2,666 in the first three months of 2008.
“It’s great to see that many people are already turning their attention to getting their finances in order. January credit card bills can often catch people by surprise, so we would encourage people to keep a check on their finances over the festive season and plan ahead to ensure they aren’t paying over the odds for their plastic,” recommended Roger Lovering, Abbey Credit Cards Managing Director.
The survey also found that both gender and geography has an impact on the expected amounts that will be transferred early this year.
When compared to 8% of men transferring a balance of £3,395 across to another card, only 7% of women will be transferring an average balance of £1,820. The residents living in the Midlands are expected to transfer £3,021, just above those living in south-east England, expected to transfer £2,900. Other areas, such as northern England will have an average of £2,501 expected to switch, which is more than Scotland at £2,154 and Wales and the south-west coming in at £2,022.
Transferring higher interest rate balances is an effective way of reducing repayments when utilizing credit cards with lower interest rates, especially when coupled with the wide variety of zero introductory rate cards, available today.