Credit card debt catches up with Britons

By Cesar G. Soriano, USA TODAY

USAToday.com - London: "This Christmas season, the hottest-selling gifts in Europe are pricey American products such as iPods, the Xbox 360 and celebrity-inspired fashions. That kind of shopping has led to a very American problem: credit card debt."

Nationwide, 34% of Britons say they will use credit cards or store cards to pay for their holiday purchases this year. And one in five say they are still paying off their gifts from last Christmas, according to a December poll by Zopa, an online lending agency.

"The UK has adopted the American habit of credit with vigor, and consequently consumers are rapidly getting in over their heads," says Steve Rhode, president of Myvesta.org, a non-profit, debt-relief group. In August, U.S.-based Myvesta opened an office in Britain to deal with the growing number of Britons in debt.

The number of people filing for bankruptcy or insolvency in England and Wales rose 46% from 2004 to 2005 to a record, according to Britain's Department of Trade and Industry. The average Briton has $5,188 in credit card debt, according to a December survey by Datamonitor. In the USA, the average debt per household is $9,312, according to CardWeb.com. Analysts say Britons' reliance on credit cards arose in recent years from a strong economy combined with low interest rates and easy availability of credit. Indirectly, the high cost of living, especially in London, also has been a factor, says Michael Penn, an economist with Merrill Lynch.

In recent months, the British economy has started to show signs of stagnancy: Interest rates are rising, adjustable-rate mortgage payments are increasing, consumer confidence is down, and retailers are reporting a disappointing holiday season, Penn says.

Germans, the second-most-indebted Europeans, owed $3,483 credit card debt, while Italians owed just $1,268. About 55% of all credit cards in Europe are issued in the United Kingdom, says Pat Boyden, a partner in charge of personal insolvency with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"There is a real difference in mentality. Consumers from poorer European countries are more cautious and tend to save more and borrow less," Penn says.

"But in the long-term view, we would expect, as Europe continues to integrate, financial institutions and regulations tend to converge, which should lead to more accessibility to credit for consumers, which should increase appetite for credit," he says.

Credit cards have only been around here for about 30 years — half as long as in the USA. "Credit card usage is very similar to the U.S.," says Boyden, who notes that both personal debt and insolvencies have doubled over the past five years. Maya Imberg, author of a report for Datamonitor, a London-based industry-analysis firm, says the issue stems from British consumer attitudes toward debt and credit along with an American-based credit industry that encourages Britons to use plastic. "UK consumers are much more open to borrowing on credit, whereas the average German is not as open to doing that," she says, because of cultural views toward borrowing and saving.

Unlike the USA, where recent legislation has made it more difficult for debtors to file for bankruptcy, wiping the financial slate clean is relatively easier here. Under the Enterprise Act of 2002, Britons who declare bankruptcy are discharged after just one year, compared with three years before the law was enacted. In the third quarter of 2005, 17,562 people filed for debt relief. Of those, 12,043 filed for bankruptcy. Just 5,519 filed for Individual Voluntary Arrangements, where debtors make out-of-court arrangements with their creditors to pay back all or a portion of their debts. Imberg says the number of bankruptcies is "still relatively low, but they are a concern" because of signs of a weakening economy.

"If a recession were to occur, then perhaps we would see more bankruptcies and banks losing money they lent. But it's not at a level where it was in the early '90s recession," she says.

Kevin Aston of Debt Counselors, a national debt-advisory service, blames the problem on the "financially illiterate. We now have a generation that has been brought up on credit," he says. More Britons, like many Americans, are living in the moment beyond their means, Aston says. Aston says he regularly deals with clients who have $150,000 in debt spread out on 16 credit cards. In Britain, credit limits are based on payment performance rather than income, he says.

He paints a picture that is familiar to Americans: "These individuals were earning 18,000 pounds ($31,828) a year and had 20,000 pounds ($35,364) in debt. They managed to pay the minimum payments on their income, but then got to a stage where they were struggling. Rather than admit they had a problem, they would take out further credit to revolve the credit. They weren't living a life of luxury, they were simply using credit to pay for credit."

Although some critics blame credit card companies for liberally passing out credit, debt counselors like Aston and Rhode say at the end of the day, only the debtor is at fault. Says Rhode: "When it comes to credit, one lesson people have never learned worldwide is simply because somebody extends credit to you has nothing to do with your ability to afford it."