Shelter, a leading homeless charity, has expressed concern over the amount of people making their mortgage repayments through the use of their credit cards. One million people across the UK are using their credit cards to make payments on their mortgage or to pay their monthly rent.
The charity is nervous that at some point these consumers will find that they may find themselves without credit to rely on. Therefore, will not have any means to pay their rent or mortgages. This could then lead to a rise in mortgage and rent defaults, and could ultimately end up with many of these people having their homes repossessed.The number of homeowners and tenants that are using their credit cards to make repayments on mortgages and rent represents around 6 percent of homes in the UK. The charity said that the majority of tenants and homeowners that had found themselves in this situation were working class there were also some middle class professionals that were turning to credit cards to meet their mortgage or rent payments.
A spokesperson from Shelter said that credit cards were not the answer for those that were struggling with their mortgage or rent payments, and that it was vital that these people sought advice from debt advice charities and experts rather than turning to their credit cards. She added that a rising number of people using their credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent were at risk of becoming homeless.
