- Thursday, 23 July 2009A significant number of UK consumers could see their ability to pay off their debts hindered as a result of the increasingly-common practice of 'credit card hoarding'.
New research has revealed that borrowers across the country have a collective 38 million unused credit cards stashed away either in their wallets or at home.
Of those polled by Uswitch.com, around one in ten revealed that they keep a credit card to one side for emergencies only, while many more have let their plastic products become dormant after switching to better deals.
While experts have welcomed this restraint, particularly as it is estimated that the typical consumer has as much as £12,000 of "unused" credit available to them right now, borrowers have also been warned that, by keeping accounts open they could be damaging their credit rating and therefore placing their ability to pay off their debts in jeopardy.
This could potentially lead to some borrowers having to get an IVA, or seek out other debt solutions.
Louise Bond from the website advised: "Consumers should look at what accounts they have, how much credit is available on each and where necessary spring-clean their wallets."
Meanwhile, a new study from the Auriemma Consulting Group has concluded that many credit card companies could soon introduce annual charges on their products in order to offset the limits placed on their charges.
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