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An investigation organized by Egg says consumers have greatly underestimated the amount that credit cards are used throughout the United Kingdom, what this means is consumers are spending a lot more than they think. The investigation revealed that when consumers thought they had spent was £236billion was in fact £437 billion, some difference!
How come there is such a big difference?
Well most of us usually pay for everything with the plastic card and find it hard to keep track of what we spend.
Most people have more than one credit card and a lot of them transfer their balances from time to time to get the best interest rate, so when you are working with two or more credit cards it's easy to miscalculate how much you're spending, and with so many different payment options for you to choose from you can see how there can be such a difference in what we spend, over £200billion! scary or what?
Another question you have to ask is, if we do not know what is in our accounts how do we know we are not getting ripped off?
Six out of ten consumers didn't know how much was in their accounts so money could be taken out and they would have no idea. Mind you some would say (not me you understand) if you don't keep track of your money you deserve to have it pinched.
The British Bankers Association revealed that by the end of September, credit card sales had fallen for the last two months indicating that consumers are being careful, but with Christmas around the corner I am sure the credit card sales will be up and we will have another bumper spending spree with the plastic cards.
So the question was, are we underestimating what we are spending? well the facts definitely say yes!
So what should we do about it well keep a tighter grip on your accounts, double check what's coming in and out and make sure everything balances at the end of the month.
Good luck!