16% of Brits take out credit with no plan to pay it back
08/12/2014
Research from YouGov has shown that 16% of people in the UK have taken out credit with no intention of paying it back, and half of those would consider repeating that behaviour.
The survey of 2,010 people was conducted by YouGov and commissioned by credit information provider, Equifax, and sheds light on consumer attitudes to repaying debts.
In total, 19% of people surveyed answered that they would consider taking out (or had taken out) credit with no intention of paying any or all of it back. 31% of these people said that this would most likely be (or had been) prompted by a difficult financial situation. 9% of these people also said they would not care about the consequences of paying back the credit, which they had borrowed.
Equifax is concerned that deliberate non-payers are not realising the long-term consequences of their actions, as Andrew Webb, Head of Equifax Personal Solutions explained:
“Information about an individual’s payment history stays on their credit file for 6 years and if they have a pattern of non-payment this is likely to be viewed negatively by organisations in the future. The reality is that checks against credit information are made for even small financial commitments such as a mobile phone agreement. Deliberate defaulting could, therefore, impact someone’s day to day life, particularly as there is now even more focus on consumer indebtedness and affordability.”
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