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1m use credit cards to pay housing costs
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Around one million people are being forced to use credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent, new research shows
An estimated 6% of households put their housing costs on plastic in the last 12 months, according to a poll by YouGov for the housing charity Shelter.
The survey of 2,022 people found working-class households were twice as likely to resort to credit cards to meet housing costs as middle-class homes.
cards and loans
Shelter said respondents were being driven to desperate measures to avoid the threat of repossession.
Kay Boycott of Shelter said: "This is a shocking discovery, that more than a million households in Britain are in such desperate circumstances that they need to borrow money on credit cards to pay for basic housing costs.
"If people are already struggling to the extent that they fear losing their home, increasing credit card debt cannot be the answer."
At 18.3% the average credit card interest rate is nearly four times the average mortgage interest rate, according to comparison site Moneyfacts.co.uk.
© Sky News 11 January 2010
