Credit card number 'rises by 50%'

More than 45% of people in Northern Eire aged over 15 now ain a recognition card, a new consumer intelligence study have said.

The Mintel study said the figure of recognition card game issued in Northern Eire have increased by 50% between 2001 and last year.

Julie Sloan from Mintel Eire said consumers could have got entree to an estimated £1.4bn credit.

She said recognition card use was expected to lift in the run-up to Christmas.

"There is a growth organic structure of grounds to bespeak that many consumers across Northern Eire are using recognition card game to tap into a life style they otherwise couldn't afford," she said.

She said the study Recognition Cards: a State in Debt, indicated that one in five recognition card users acknowledge to purchasing on impulse, without thought of the consequences.

The study establish that the cost of borrowing, given the series of involvement charge per unit rises, is providing further fiscal strain for borrowers.

It also said that work force across Northern Eire are more than likely to have a recognition card than women.

Derek Alcorn head executive director of Citizens Advice said people should utilize recognition card game responsibly, and do certain they can pay their debts.

"This volition avoid a state of affairs whereby people are slumber walking into fiscal difficultly without sufficient agency for repayment," he said.